Misunderstanding Mode (And Field)

Martin & Rose (2007: 298):

Let’s explore each of these variables a little here, beginning with mode. One important variable in mode is the amount of work language is doing in relation to what is going on, that is to what degree it simply accompanies a field of activity or constructs its own field. And a complementary dimension of mode is the cline of monologue through dialogue, its orientation to interaction.

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[1] Cf Halliday & Hasan (1976: 22):

The MODE is the function of the text in the event, including therefore both the channel taken by the language — spoken or written, extempore or prepared — and its genre, or rhetorical mode, as narrative, didactic, persuasive, 'phatic communion', and so on.

To be clear, what Halliday & Hasan regard as the textual dimension of the cultural context, mode, Martin & Rose regard as the textual dimension of their register, despite the fact that the categories of rhetorical mode correspond to their genre. That is, the authors' model is not only inconsistent with SFL Theory, it is inconsistent in its own terms.

[2] To be clear, the unacknowledged source here is Hasan's distinction between constitutive and ancillary LANGUAGE RÔLE. Halliday & Hasan (1989 [1985]: 58):

The third variable, mode, can also be described under at least three different sub-headings. First, there is the question of the LANGUAGE RÔLE — whether it is constitutive or ancillary. These categories should not be seen as sharply distinct but rather as two end-points of a continuum.

[3] This is a serious misunderstanding of SFL Theory. Social action and language do not construct their own fields. Halliday, in Halliday & Hasan (1989 [1985]: 58):

The FIELD OF DISCOURSE refers to what is happening, to the nature of the social action  that is taking place: what is it that the participants are engaged in, in which language figures as some essential component?

[4] To be clear, 'the cline of monologue through dialogue' is the continuum from one person speaking (or writing) the text to at least two people speaking (or writing) the text. A midpoint on this cline would be one and a half people speaking (or writing) the text.