Sunday 28 January 2018

On The Heteroglossic Function Of Usuality, Obligation, Inclination And Ability

Martin & Rose (2007: 55):
Helena uses modality even more often, across a range of modal meanings:
Negotiating information
how usual         He and his friends would visit regularly
how probable    there must have been someone out there who is still alive 
Negotiating services
how obliged      I had to watch how white people became dissatisfied with the best
how inclined     I would have done the same had I been denied everything
how able           who can give a face to 'the orders from above' for all the operations
These examples show the five types of modality discussed by Halliday (1994): usuality, probability, obligation, inclination and ability.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, negotiation is discussion aimed at reaching an agreement.

[2] These four instances do not exemplify heteroglossia, the acknowledgment of other voices.  Each instance is monoglossic, since each enacts the author's voice only; no other viewpoints are acknowledged.

[3] These three instances are modulated propositions, not proposals — they are neither offers nor commands — and so the commodity of exchange is information, not (goods–&–)services.  The first two are modulated statements that give information, the third is a modulated question that demands information.

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