A Summary Of The Layered Wave Patterns Of Periodicity

Martin & Rose (2007: 198-9):

Figure 6.1 summarises the wave patterns we’ve been reviewing here. The diagram suggests that layers of Theme construct the method of development of a text, and that this development is particularly sensitive to the staging of the genre in question. Layers of New on the other hand develop the point of a text, focusing in particular on expanding the ideational meanings around a text’s field.

 

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, no arguments have been provided in support of this model; it has merely been asserted. As previously demonstrated, the model makes several false claims:

• that New never conflates with Theme,
• that Themes predict what follows (as New!), and
• that News distil/accumulate what precedes.

As previously explained, the model confuses textual highlighting (Theme and New) with textual transitions involving elaboration. That is, in the texts that were examined, what follows a "higher level Theme" elaborates it through exemplification or exposition, and a "higher level New" elaborates what precedes through summation. This last point is hardly surprising, given that Martin's hyperNew is his rebranding of paragraph summary, and his macroNew is his rebranding of text summary.

[2] To be clear, it is the selection of Theme that constitutes the method of development of a text (Fries 1981). The higher level Themes of Martin & Rose do not model language, but are a confusion of writing pedagogy (introductory paragraph, topic sentence) and book layout (title, table of contents etc.). In SFL Theory, method of development is understood as a pattern of instantiation in the logogenesis of a text.

[3] To be clear, this confuses textual highlighting (Theme) with the meaning (e.g. experiential) that is highlighted. If texts really did conform with this model, the textual highlighting would be common to the texts of all text types (genres); what would be "sensitive to genre" would be what is highlighted as thematic.

[4] To be clear, it is the selection of New that constitutes the point of a text (Fries 1981). The higher level News of Martin & Rose do not model language, but are a confusion of writing pedagogy (paragraph summary, text summary) and book layout (e.g. index). In SFL Theory, point is understood as a pattern of instantiation in the logogenesis of a text.

[5] To be clear, this confuses textual highlighting (New) with the meaning (ideational) that is highlighted. If texts really did conform with this model, the textual highlighting would be common to texts realising all fields (ideational context); what would vary with field would be the ideational meaning that is highlighted as New.