The key point here is that co-patterning of this kind is all we need to recognise a distinct discourse phase. The generic stages of an exemplum (Orientation, Incident, Interpretation) are recurrent enough in the culture to be highly predictable. They are predicted by the genre itself. But phases within such generic stages, such as the ‘repercussions’ phase here, are much more variable. It is the co-patterning of discourse features that enables us to recognise a distinct phase.
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To be clear, in Martin's model, genre is two levels of symbolic abstraction (strata) above discourse semantics, and yet here discourse phases are presented as components of generic stages; that is, the two are presented as being on the same level of symbolic abstraction. This theoretical inconsistency arises from Martin's (1992: 391, 488) misunderstanding of strata as modules, all of which — including phonology and cultural context — are misunderstood as levels of linguistic meaning.
Moreover, Martin models genre (text type) as context, instead of language, despite the fact that it is concerned with varieties of language and variation in language structure, and despite the fact he models instances of genre as instances of language (texts), instead of instances of context (situations).
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