Thanks for this teaser. There's an impossibly large number of threads picked up in these few little questions… variability in relations between strata in semiotic systems… their contributions and couplings in instantiation… phylogenesis of language in general and languages in particular… and histories of linguists trying to theorise (what they can see of) these problems
Blogger Comments:
[1] This is misleading, because it is untrue. McDonald's questions concerned:
- the natural relation between meaning (e.g. process) and linguistic form (e.g. verbal group),
- the construal of experience as meaning, and
- the co-ordination of language with other social semiotic systems made possible by language.
See the examination of McDonald's original post here.
[2] To be clear, 'coupling' or 'co-instantiation' is one of Martin's many misunderstandings of SFL Theory. As previously noted, because the process of instantiation is the selection of features and the activation of realisation statements (Halliday & Matthiessen 1999: 45), it necessarily entails the co-selection of features that are related along the dimensions of the theory, including delicacy, rank and strata. Martin's superfluous notion of "co-instantiation" is merely an acknowledgement that features are co-selected.
[2] To be clear, 'coupling' or 'co-instantiation' is one of Martin's many misunderstandings of SFL Theory. As previously noted, because the process of instantiation is the selection of features and the activation of realisation statements (Halliday & Matthiessen 1999: 45), it necessarily entails the co-selection of features that are related along the dimensions of the theory, including delicacy, rank and strata. Martin's superfluous notion of "co-instantiation" is merely an acknowledgement that features are co-selected.
