Misunderstanding 'Capacity' And Confusing Prosodic Structure With Logogenesis

Martin and Rose (2007: 40):

Even more borderline perhaps are the generalisations of these positive capacities when Vaughan is referred to as a torchbearer of the 1980s-1990s blues revival and a rockin’ blues purist:

torchbearer, rockin' blues purist

In the prosodic domain of this positive appreciation of the CD, these can arguably be included as positive appreciations; but just as strong a case might be made for reading items such as these as positive judgements of Vaughan’s capacity as an artist, especially in contexts where character rather than performance is being evaluated. The context sensitivity of these borderline items underlines the importance of analysing appraisal in prosodic terms. So it is important to take co-text into account, rather than analysing simply item by item.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, if appreciation is interpreted as assessment by reference to æsthetic values, and judgement is interpreted as assessment by reference to ethical values, then torchbearer and rockin' blues purist are not borderline cases; both are simply tokens of appreciation, as would be expected in a music review.

[2] Neither torchbearer nor rockin' blues purist is an assessment of capacity:

• torchbearer is not an assessment of what Vaughan can do, but an assessment of what he is; 
• rockin' blues purist is not an assessment of what Vaughan can do, but an assessment of what he is.

[3]  This confuses 'prosodic', a type of structure, with the unfolding of the text, logogenesis.