Misconstruing Conditional 'Then' As Temporal 'Then'

Martin & Rose (2007: 138):

In the spoken mode, internal time may also be used to sequence arguments. In the following example (from Forgiveness), Llewelyn’s first proposition is dismissed so he asks for a second:

Llewelyn:      I say maybe it was you who gave the cops Daniel's name.

Luke:             - Are you fucking berserk?

Llewelyn:      - Then who did?

These are all examples of internal succession - they order the steps in the text’s internal logic as first, second, next and so on.

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, in SFL Theory, internal conjunction creates textual cohesion by relating portions of language in their interpersonal guise.  In the case of temporal relations, this means relating one to another as 'following', 'simultaneous', 'preceding' or 'conclusive'; see Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 612-4).

In the example provided, there is no temporal relation between propositions. The Then of the final clause marks a conditional relation with dependent clause ellipsis, along the lines of:

If you didn't, then who did?

This again demonstrates the misunderstandings that can arise by giving priority to the view from below, in this case the conjunction then, instead of the view from above, the meaning being realised.