Problems With Treating Verbal Group Elements As Clause Elements

 Fawcett (2010: 334):

The paper demonstrates that the solution to these problems is to treat all of the elements of the supposed 'verbal group' as direct elements of the clause, as is done in the Cardiff Grammar. Indeed, to do so is simply to carry through to its logical conclusion the change already initiated by Halliday in promoting the Finite to function as an element of the clause (a change that in fact dates back to Halliday 1967:218), and echoed in his treatment of off as an Adjunct in They called the meeting off.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, this is a very problematic non-solution to (previously demonstrated) non-problems. In SFL Theory, the verbal group is the entry condition for the recursive system of TENSE, which is realised by a univariate structure. Fawcett's proposal would insert a univariate structure into part of the multivariate structure of a clause — the clause itself having no univariate structure. Moreover, such a proposal would transfer all the systems of the verbal group to the clause, even though they do not apply to the clause as a whole. Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 410):

[2] This is misleading. The Finite operator was not "promoted" to clause structure; it is theorised as a functional element of both the clause and verbal group. The remaining multivariate structure elements of the verbal group, Polarity, Auxiliary and Event, on the other hand, operate only at group rank, with the Event, and any others present, corresponding to the Predicator at clause rank':

Accordingly, "promoting" these other verbal group elements to clause rank would not be a "logical conclusion".

[3] To be clear, the adverb off is irrelevant to matters concerning the verbal group because it serves as the Head element of an adverbial group, not as an element of a verbal group.