[9] Doran's Factorial Approach To Structure

Doran (2021):

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, this approach to structure is inconsistent with the fundamental approach to language taken by SFL Theory. As Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 49) point out, SFL Theory takes the view 'from above', asking how meaning is realised, in this case, how the metafunctions are realised structurally.

[2] As this blog unfolds, it will be demonstrated that these factors — nuclearity, linearity and iteration — follow from the model of orbital and serial structure types in Martin (1996), which misidentifies experiential structures with hypotaxis and logical structures with parataxis. See One Of The Problems With Martin's Model Of Structure Types.

[3] To be clear, "the distinct structure types already in use" and "variation within these types" are already accounted for by Halliday ± Matthiessen (1985, 1994, 2004, 2014), and there is no "fuzziness between them", as previously demonstrated on this blog. See Misrepresenting Structure Types As Indeterminate.

[4] As will be seen, these "elements typically left out or not considered structurally" include structure markers misconstrued as units in unit complexes, and non-structural cohesive relations misconstrued as covariate structures (after Martin 1992).

[7] Misrepresenting "The Conflation Of Distinct Tiers Of Structure" As SFL Theory

Doran (2021):

Blogger Comments:

[1] These bare assertions are very misleading indeed, because on the one hand, there is no indeterminacy ("fuzziness") here — see the previous post — and on the other hand, there is no structure conflation in SFL Theory. As a consequence:

• this non-existent indeterminacy is not "often described in terms of conflation of distinct tiers of structure",
• conflation does not "work well in emphasising that there are tensions occurring between different strands of meaning",
• conflation does not "give us a tool for understanding how this non-existent fuzziness works, or the parameters of variation of this non-existent fuzziness",
• conflation does not "give us an explanation of why a structure occurs", and
• conflation is not relevant to "a description of what the structure is".

[2] And, to be clear, the reason why structure markers are "simply left out of any structural description" is simply that they are not units in unit complexes.

[6] Misrepresenting Structure Types As Indeterminate

Doran (2021):

Blogger Comments:

[1] This is misleading, because there is no indeterminacy here. 

The experiential structure of the verbal group is clearly multivariate, because, like all multivariate structures, it is 'a configuration of different functional relationships' (Halliday & Matthiessen 2014: 451): Finite vs Auxiliary vs Event. The number of Auxiliaries is irrelevant to this definition of a multivariate structure.*

The logical structure of the verbal group is clearly univariate, because, like all univariate structures, it is the iteration of the same functional relationship' (Halliday & Matthiessen 2014: 451), in this case: modification (α is modified by β, which is modified by γ). The number of modifications is irrelevant to this definition of a univariate structure.

[2] To be clear, the English system of TENSE is realised by the logical structure only, not by the experiential structure (Halliday & Matthiessen 2014: 398).

* See the upcoming posts of 11 and 15 September.