The Reason Why We Need Conjunction As A Discourse Semantic System

Martin & Rose (2007: 116):

This illustrates one reason why we need to set up conjunction as a discourse semantic system. The meanings of conjunction are realised through conjunctions such as if and then, but they are also realised by other kinds of wordings, and they are frequently left implicit, for the reader or listener to infer.

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To be clear, this does not constitute an argument for setting up conjunction as a discourse semantic system, since the various realisations are already accounted for by the two grammatical systems that Martin & Rose confuse and rebrand as Martin's discourse semantic system of conjunction, namely Halliday's system of clause complexing (Halliday & Matthiessen 2014: 438):

and Halliday's system of cohesive conjunction (Halliday & Matthiessen 2014: 612):

On the other hand, for a theoretically-consistent account of the semantic systems that are congruently realised in lexicogrammar as clause complexing, see Halliday & Matthiessen (1999: 104-27).