Misapplying Their Own Model Of Nuclear Relations [3]

Martin & Rose (2007: 107-9):

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, ignoring the theoretical problems with the Martin & Rose rebranding of Halliday & Matthiessen's (1999: 165-76) degrees of participation and involvement as nuclear relations, and ignoring their replacement of the metaphors in the original text, the following discrepancies between their model and their application of their model can be noted:

Clause Element	Martin & Rose Model	Martin & Rose Analysis
as a farm girl	peripheral	nuclear
in the Bethlehem district of Eastern Free State	peripheral	(omitted)
As an eighteen-year-old	peripheral	nuclear
with all the 'Boer' Afrikaners	peripheral	(omitted)
through a good friend	peripheral	nuclear
for the first time	peripheral	nuclear

Original Text:

My story begins in my late teenage years as a farm girl in the Bethlehem district of Eastern Free State. As an eighteen-year-old, I met a young man in his twenties. He was working in a top security structure. It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship. We even spoke about marriage. A bubbly, vivacious man who beamed out wild energy. Sharply intelligent. Even if he was an Englishman, he was popular with all the 'Boer' Afrikaners. And all my girlfriends envied me. Then one day he said he was going on a 'trip'. 'We won't see each other again...maybe never ever again.’ I was torn to pieces. So was he. An extremely short marriage to someone else failed all because I married to forget. More than a year ago, I met my first love again through a good friend. I was to learn for the first time that he had been operating overseas and that he was going to ask for amnesty. I can’t explain the pain and bitterness in me when I saw what was left of that beautiful, big, strong person. He had only one desire - that the truth must come out. Amnesty didn't matter. It was only a means to the truth.