Bateman (1998: 13-4):
CONJUNCTION is then perhaps quite appropriately the discourse semantic region for which Martin discusses the most varied selection of possible lexicogrammatical realisations. Not only does he make sure to preserve the required continuity between congruent grammatical realisation in terms of clause complexes and cohesive realisations of conjunctive relations (as illustrated in examples (c-f) above), he also makes considerable use of the diverse grammatical metaphors available below the clause. Thus, the following variants can all be seen as alternative realisations of a single discourse semantic temporal relation between two semantic messages [pp168–169]:
We walk the ring with our dogs and then we just wait.
After we walk the ring with our dogs, we just wait.
Subsequent to walking the ring with our dogs, we just wait.
After our tour of the ring, we just wait.
Our tour of the ring is prior to our wait.
Our tour of the ring is before we wait.
Our tour of the ring is the antecedent of our wait.
Our tour of the ring precedes our wait.
The first thing we do is tour the ring with our dogs; the second thing we do is we wait.
Blogger Comments:
[1] To be clear, Martin's conjunction is Halliday & Hasan's (1976) conjunction, relocated from lexicogrammar to discourse semantics, and misunderstood as a structural logical system instead of a non-structural (cohesive) textual system. The theoretical inconsistencies are both stratal and metafunctional. To add to the confusion, Martin also relocates expansion relations between clauses from lexicogrammar to discourse semantics, while ignoring projection relations; that is, the logico-semantic relation of projection is entirely absent from Martin's logical discourse semantics, with the consequence that projection systems in the lexicogrammar have no discourse semantic systems to realise.
To add further to the confusion, because Martin uses Halliday & Hasan (1976) as the source of his ideas, instead of Halliday (1985), his conjunction systems do not present elaboration, extension and enhancement as the most general types of relations, with the consequence that the stratal relation between discourse semantic and grammatical features are incongruent, even in the absence of grammatical metaphor.
To add further still to the confusion, Martin misunderstands and misapplies the types of expansion, including the distinction between internal and external relations, which he claims (wrongly) to be the 'main factor distinguishing Halliday's (1985) classification from that being developed here (1992: 182).
For the evidence on which all the above assessments are based, and much more, see the extensive clarifications and critiques here.
[2] To be clear, in "preserving the required continuity between congruent grammatical realisation in terms of clause complexes and cohesive realisations of conjunctive relations", Martin confuses expansion in the service of the logical metafunction (clause complexes) with expansion in the service of the textual metafunction (cohesive conjunction) and relocates the confusion from lexicogrammar to discourse semantics.
[3] To be clear, this "considerable use" amounts to displaying a few example sentences on a single page (p169).
[4] To be clear, Martin confuses conjunction with the more general resource of expansion, of which conjunction is but one manifestation. What these instances have in common is not conjunction, but the expansion category temporal enhancement. Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 669) 'present a systematic and comprehensive summary of the different grammatical environments in which elaboration, extension and enhancement are manifested':
the environments of manifestation can be differentiated in terms of (i) metafunction – textual (CONJUNCTION), logical (INTERDEPENDENCY; MODIFICATION) and experiential (CIRCUMSTANTIATION; PROCESS TYPE: relational), and (ii) rank – clause and group/phrase. …
From a grammatical point of view, the environments … are, of course, all different. But seen from above, from the vantage point of semantics, they are all agnate ways of construing expansion. Collectively they thus construe expansion as a semantic system. This means that for any given type of expansion we want to express, we have at our disposal a range of resources.
[5] To be clear, in SFL theory, a message is a textual unit at the level of semantics (cf. 'clause as message'). This is why cohesive conjunction, a grammatical resource of the textual metafunction, is concerned with conjoining messages. In rebranding Halliday & Hasan's (1976) textual grammar as his own logical discourse semantics, Martin also rebrands a textual unit as a logical unit.
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