On Macro-Theme, Hyper-Theme, Hyper-New And Macro-New

Bateman (1998: 20):

Martin also proposes here some valuable additions: particularly in the area of text structure, with the text-scale structurings of hyper- and macro-themes and their complementary elements: hyper- and macro-new [see Figure 6.12, p456], and in contrasts between static and process views of texts.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, Martin's terms are rebrandings of terms from writing pedagogy:

• macro-Theme is a rebranding of introductory paragraph,
• hyper-Theme (a term taken from Daneš and misunderstood) is a rebranding of topic sentence,
• hyper-New is a rebranding of paragraph summary, and
• macro-New is a rebranding of text summary.

This is why writing pedagogues believe "Martin's" ideas are a valuable resource.  However, advising people how to write is not modelling language, and spoken language is not planned and organised on the basis of effective writing strategies.  But these are, by no means, the only problems.

For some of the misunderstandings and inconsistencies in the notion of macro-Theme see the 16 clarifying critiques here.
For some of the misunderstandings and inconsistencies in the notion of hyper-Theme see the 16 clarifying critiques here.
For some of the misunderstandings and inconsistencies in the notion of hyper-New see the 8 clarifying critiques here.
For some of the misunderstandings and inconsistencies in the notion of macro-New see the 11 clarifying critiques here.

[2] To be clear, Martin's "contrasts between static and process views of texts" essentially confuse syntagmatic realisation ("static") with the process of instantiation in logogenesis ("dynamic").  This misunderstanding pervades Martin's text; see, for example:

• Confusing Instantiation With The Syntagmatic Axis
• Confusing Instantiation With Axial And Stratal Realisation
• Confusing Semantic Relations With Logogenesis
• A False Conclusion Invalidly Argued From False Premises
• Misrepresenting Martin (1992)

On Modal Responsibility

Bateman (1998: 20):

The selection of Subjects in a text, however, is also not devoid of textual consequences. Those message parts selected as Subjects serve to construct the ‘modal responsibility’ attributed by a text, and both of these interact with particular patterns of conjunctive relations, of lexical chains, and of modalities and appraisals. Working through the examples given in this chapter is a very good way of getting a clearer sense of the work done by the descriptions presented in the previous chapters.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, it is the selection of Theme — conflated with Subject or another function — that has textual "consequences".

[2] To be clear, Martin's 'message part' is an experiential unit, whereas Subject is an interpersonal function.

[3] To be clear, modal responsibility is the function of the Subject of a clause as theorised by Halliday (1985: 76).  For some of Martin's misunderstandings of Halliday's concept of modal responsibility, see the 19 clarifying critiques here.  For some of Martin's misunderstandings of Subject, see the 13 clarifying critiques here.

[4] To be clear, there is nothing on appraisal in Martin (1992) — which is hardly surprising, given that Appraisal Theory only emerged as an integrated theory later in the PhD research of Peter White.  For some of Martin's misunderstandings of Appraisal Theory, see the 52 clarifying critiques here.

[5] Working through the examples in this chapter should have alerted Bateman to the problems in this chapter (as well as those of previous chapters).  For some of the misunderstandings that undermine the theoretical validity of this chapter, see the 121 clarifying critiques here.