On Martin's 'Incongruence'

Bateman (1998: 9):

Martin also suggests problems with Ventola’s definition of move complexes as being realised as paratactic clause complexes and instead relies on a stratal mismatch (incongruency) to allow a discourse move that can be realised congruently by a single full clause, but incongruently as a sequence of clauses or even sentences related conjunctively (cf. Chapter 4).

Blogger Comments:

There are two thoughts that did not occur to Bateman here, both of theoretical importance:

1. Martin (pp58-9) confuses congruence with unmarkedness, as explained at Confusing Unmarkedness And Congruence.
2. In proposing such incongruent relations between discourse semantics and lexicogrammar, Martin is unwittingly proposing that such realisations are metaphorical — a claim that he does not make (and could not be maintained in a manner consistent with theory).