Doran (2021):
Blogger Comments:
To be clear, the structure marker of does not constitute evidence that the structure types in SFL Theory "don't quite account for everything we come up against". To explain:
Firstly, it is misleading to claim that the structure marker of is not accounted for in the SFL model of structure, because it is untrue. The structure marker of is analysed as a constituent of the embedded prepositional phrase serving as Postmodifier in the logical structure of a nominal group:
Secondly, as Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 394) point out, the preposition of is the generalised marker of a structural relationship between nominals. When it functions in this way, therefore, of is not functioning as a unit in a unit complex, and so to model it as such, as Martin does — see here — is to make a category error.
Moreover, contrary to Doran's claim, the 'structure marker' of is also pervasive in English, and the claim that its function is somehow "marginalised" — by not misinterpreting it as a unit in a unit complex — is not only a bare assertion, but also, as demonstrated above, untrue.