Cherry-Picking The Data

Martin & Rose (2007: 263):

As with larger segments in written texts discussed above, formatting can be a useful starting point, but now it is the paragraphing that can help to indicate the phases in which the field unfolds. As paragraphing tends to coincide with the hierarchy of periodicity, we can adjust and expand the information that paragraphing gives us by looking at what is presented as hyperThemes and hyperNews. For example, what is presented first in each paragraph of the Inauguration Day recount are times that scaffold the activity sequence of the day’s events and of Mandela’s speech:

The day’s activity sequence is concluded in the hyperNew of the second last paragraph, with Finally..., and is then reoriented in the last paragraph, beginning with The day…

The global scaffolding resource here is sequence in time, expressed as external conjunctions and temporal circumstances.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, in SFL Theory, 'field' refers to the ideational dimension of the culture modelled as a semiotic system. Here Martin & Rose unwittingly use it to refer to the ideational semantics of a text as it unfolds in logogenesis.

[2] To be clear, as previously explained, Martin's hyperTheme and hyperNew are his rebrandings of topic sentence (of a paragraph) and paragraph summary from the field of writing pedagogy. Writing pedagogy is concerned with proposals on how to write, whereas linguistic theory is concerned with propositions that model language.

[3] To be clear, what is actually presented first in each paragraph of the Inauguration Day recount are:

10 May
The ceremonies
On that lovely autumn day
Today
We who were outlaws not so long ago
We
Never, never, and never again
Let freedom
A few moments later
The day

That is, Martin & Rose have cherry-picked the six instances that support their analysis, and ignored the four instances that do not.

[4] See, for example, Activity Sequences: A Cornucopia Of Theoretical Inconsistencies.

[5] To be clear, this is inconsistent with both the source meaning of hyperNew as paragraph summary, and with the authors' notion of hyperNew distilling what had preceded it (p195-6), since this clause realises meaning that had not previously been mentioned:

Finally a chevron of impala jets left a smoke trail of the black, red, green, blue and gold of the new South African flag.

[6] Trivially, none of the six temporal Themes are conjunctions, and two — the first and last — are participants, not circumstances.

Packaging Discourse Through Explicit And Implicit "Scaffolding" And "Grammaticalising" Periodicity As Clause Complexing

Martin & Rose (2007: 215):

As we’ve seen, discourse gets packaged in various ways. Explicit scaffolding involves the erection of a hierarchy of periodicity beyond the clause, with layers of Theme and News telling us where we’re coming from and where we’re going to. With serial expansion there’s a change of gears from one discourse phase to the next, without any explicit scaffolding of the change. In some kinds of discourse, such as legislation, explicitness is in a sense pushed to its limits by (i) grammaticalising as much hierarchy as possible within very complex sentences and/or (ii) naming sections of the text numerically and/or alphabetically, and/or providing them with headings. Many texts involve some combination of all these resources for phasing information into digestible chunks.

 

Blogger Comments:

[1] As we've seen, the authors' 'hierarchy of periodicity' is writing pedagogy masquerading as linguistic theory; it does not apply to any texts that don't conform these proposals for how to write, or to any texts that are spoken or signed. Moreover, the model falsely assumes that New information is never thematic, and confuses textual status (Theme, New) with textual transitions made through (implicit) appositive and summative elaboration ("predicting" and "distilling").

[2] As we've seen, in terms of SFL Theory, the authors' 'serial expansion' is concerned with textual transitions made through (implicit) relations other than elaboration (extension or enhancement).

[3] As we've seen, Martin & Rose misrepresent grammaticalisation — a shift in function from lexical to grammatical — as a shift in function from the discourse semantic stratum to the grammatical stratum. To be clear, whatever has a discourse semantic function also has a grammatical function, since strata are levels of symbolic abstraction, so the notion of a function shifting from one stratum to another is nonsensical. Moreover, the authors' claim is that their 'hierarchy of periodicity' (textual semantics) and clause complexing (logical grammar) perform the same function (since the latter is said to replace the former in some texts).

The "Grammaticalisation" Of Periodicity

Martin & Rose (2007: 214):

In summary then, where hierarchy of periodicity is used across many registers to orchestrate information flow, in the Act this packaging is as far as possible grammaticalised. The Act uses complex sentences where other registers would use introductions, topic sentences and paragraphs.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, the only registers in which the authors' hierarchy of periodicity might be said to be used are those of written mode where writers conform to principles of writing pedagogy such as introductory paragraph (rebranded "macroTheme"), topic sentence (rebranded "hyperTheme"), paragraph summary (rebranded "hyperNew") and text summary (rebranded "macroNew"). Writing pedagogy is not linguistic theory, and spoken language does not conform to its principles.

[2] This misunderstands both grammaticalisation and stratification. To be clear, grammaticalisation is a shift in function from the lexical zone of lexicogrammar to the grammatical zone — just as lexicalisation is a shift in function from the grammatical zone of lexicogrammar to the lexical zone. Grammaticalisation cannot refer to a shift in function from semantics to grammar because semantics and grammar are different levels of abstraction of the same phenomenon: the content plane of language. It is therefore nonsensical to claim that a function can shift from semantics (Value) to grammar (Token). Again, this reflects the authors' mistaken view that strata are modules.

[3] To be clear, the "complex sentences" in the Act are clause complexes, in terms of lexicogrammar, and sequences, in terms of semantics. But, because the text makes extensive use of ideational metaphor, its sequences are incongruently realised as clauses, rather than congruently as clause complexes.

"The Grammar Runs Out Of Steam And Discourse Semantics Takes Over"

Martin & Rose (2007: 210, 211, 212):

The basic strategy the Act uses to phase information is to make grammar do as much work as possible, that is to use the grammar within sentences to do work that would normally be done by discourse strategies in texts. …

In a sense what we are looking at here is an exploration of the limits of grammar: how far can we push grammar before it runs out of steam and discourse semantics takes over. A peculiar kind of grammarian’s dream, or legislative nightmare, depending on our attitude to discourse of this kind. …

Discourse semantics, hierarchy of periodicity to be precise, takes over from grammar as the packaging device for this bundle of information.

Blogger Comments:

[1] This continues the misunderstanding of strata as modules, expressed in Martin (1992: 391, 488). To be clear, in the architecture of SFL Theory, grammar (Token) and semantics (Value) are different levels of symbolic abstraction of the same phenomenon: the content plane of language. To say that 'the grammar runs out of steam and discourse semantics takes over' is analogous to saying 'an actress (Token) runs out of steam and the rôle she is playing (Value) takes over'.

[2] To be clear, as previously demonstrated, the authors' hierarchy of periodicity is a confusion of writing pedagogy — misrepresented as linguistic theory — and implicit elaborating relations between so-called higher level Themes and the following text (unidentified 'higher level Rhemes'), and between so-called higher level News and the preceding text (unidentified 'higher level Givens').

Confusing Textual Highlighting With Logic-Semantic Relations

Martin & Rose (2007: 201-3):

Here’s the whole text, analysed for its generic staging. This is a story genre known as a recount, with the typical recount stages:

orientation ^ record of events ^ reorientation

We can also show how recount is organised with layers of hyperThemes and hyperNews (in bold):

There are five hyperThemes here that organise Mandela’s recount of his growing desire for freedom (its ‘method of development’). We’ll use an '=' sign to indicate the way in which the higher level Themes and News paraphrase the information they predict or distil. Halliday 1994 refers to these kinds of relation as elaboration:

1 I was not born with a hunger to be free

= …

2 It was only when I began to learn that my boyhood freedom was an illusion... that I began to hunger for it.

= …

3 But then I slowly saw that not only was I not free, but my brothers and sisters were not free.

= …

4 It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black.

= …

5 When I walked out of prison, that was my mission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor both 

= …

And three hyperNews that distil his conclusions about the struggle for freedom (its ‘point’):

3 ... = Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me.

4 ... = The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.

5 ... = The true test of our devotion to freedom is just beginning.

Beyond the hyperThemes and hyperNews in each phase, the Orientation functions as its macroTheme and its Reorientation as its macroNew. And with respect to Mandela’s book as a whole, this recount functions as a higher level macroNew, both summarising his journey and distilling the meaning of his life. The key point here is that texts expand, and that this expansion may or may not be explicitly scaffolded by layers of Themes and News. In most texts we find a mix of scaffolding through periodicity, and serial expansion that is not so clearly scaffolded, since these are simply two complementary strategies through which texts grow.

Blogger Comments:

[1] Trivially, it is the stage names that are in bold, not the hyperThemes and hyperNews.

[2] Non-trivially, here Martin & Rose acknowledge that what they have identified as the function of higher level Themes and News, prediction and distillation, are actually logico-semantic relations (elaboration) between portions of text. That is, their model confuses textual highlighting (Theme, New) with textual transitions (implicit conjunctive relations).

[3] To be clear, applying SFL Theory, it follows from this that the 'record of events' and 'reorientation' function as the macroRheme of the recount as macromessage, and that the 'orientation' and 'record of events' function as the macroGiven of the recount as macro-information unit.

[4] Again, applying SFL Theory, it follows from this that the rest of Mandela's book functions as a higher level macroGiven in the text as higher level macro-information unit.

[5] To be clear, as previously demonstrated, in terms of SFL Theory, these "two complementary strategies", periodicity and serial expansion, are, in this aspect, complementary expansion relations — elaboration (periodicity) and extension or enhancement (serial expansion) — that obtain between portions of text. In terms of SFL Theory, they could be interpreted as resources of cohesive conjunction (textual lexicogrammar). In terms of Martin's model, to be theoretically consistent, they should have been interpreted as resources of conjunction (logical discourse semantics).

The Interplay Of Periodicity With Serial Expansion

Martin & Rose (2007: 201):

We can see the same combination of serial expansion and hierarchy of periodicity operating towards the end of Mandela’s autobiography. As an autobiographical recount, his story moves through time. And so there is a tremendous amount of serial expansion, from one setting in time to the next, and lots of sequential development within each of these. The final chapter of his book, for example, begins with a recount of Inauguration Day, May 10, 1994. Skipping a line in the paragraphing, Mandela then expands on this by reflecting on the unimaginable sacrifices of his people, and his own personal failures at the expense of his family. Then, skipping another line, Mandela moves on serially again to the recount that sums up his life, some of which we’ve already seen.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, as previously explained, the authors' discussion of a hierarchy of periodicity has confused textual status (Theme, New) with textual transitions (implicit elaborating conjunction) between textual prominences and what follows (in the case of higher level Themes) and what precedes (in the case of higher level News). The authors' notion of serial expansion then complements these elaborating conjunctive relations with other sub-types of expansion, though without distinguishing those of extension (e.g. additive) from those of enhancement (e.g. temporal).

In terms of SFL Theory, these expansion relations between messages are modelled as cohesive conjunction, a lexicogrammatical resource of the textual metafunction. In terms of the authors' own model, to be theoretically consistent, these conjunctive relations would have been modelled as a discourse semantic resource of the logical metafunction.

[2] To be clear, here Martin & Rose are again inconsistent with their own model. Here they associate summative elaboration with serial expansion, despite having previously associated it with their hierarchy of periodicity: the "distilling" of previous information as a higher level New.

Serial Expansion Of Discourse

Martin & Rose (2007: 199-201):

Serial expansion is more of a chaining strategy than is periodicity, in the sense that discourse is added on to what went before without being predicted by a higher level Theme. Tutu, for example, begins his Chapter What about justice? with the issue he is arguing about…

But instead of tackling this right away as he does in the argument proper, he takes a moment to develop some background information about the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act which he feels he needs before he starts arguing. So before we get to the exposition, we have a report outlining the conditions for gaining amnesty…

Then, having built up this common ground, he restates the issue and moves into his exposition. Tutu’s transition from issue to report and from report to exposition is not scaffolded with higher level Themes, nor distilled in higher level News. He does not actually tell us before the report that he has to build some background first before discussing the issue; nor does he sum up at the end of the report what it is we needed to know. At both points he just moves on, expanding the issue with the report and then expanding the report with an exposition.

This is a serial movement from one moment in the discourse to another. We are simply expected to follow along, without the careful scaffolding of phases we get once his exposition is underway. And following his exposition the chapter expands along similar lines (some serial expansion, some hierarchy of periodicity), a kind of tandem act during which we’re sometimes warned where we’re going and reminded where we’ve been, and other times we just keep reading and find out as we go.

The important point here is that both serial expansion and hierarchy of periodicity are dynamic resources through which a text unfolds as a process. The meanings don’t emerge by crystallising. A text isn’t like an image downloading from the web, taking on detail and shape and focus here and there before our very eyes. Rather meanings flow, as texts unfold. The text materialises through time, however thing-like our written records of this dynamic misrepresent a text to be.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, as previously explained, what Martin & Rose regard as a higher level Theme predicting what follows is actually the latter elaborating the former — elaboration being one sub-type of expansion. This confusion of textual status (thematicity) with textual transition (conjunction) is here being expanded to include conjunctive relations other than elaboration, which the authors term serial expansion. This is also inconsistent with the authors' own model, where cohesive conjunction (textual metafunction) is rebranded as a logical discourse semantic system.

[2] To be clear, this is self-contradiction. On the authors' own model, if Tutu restates the issue and then presents its exposition, this is the same relation of elaboration (exposition) that the authors ascribe to a higher level Theme "predicting" what follows.

[3] To be clear, the expansion relations in serial expansion and periodicity are cohesive relations along the syntagmatic axis, whereas the choices of Theme and New form patterns of instantiation during logogenesis, the unfolding of text. In other words, here Martin & Rose confuse the unfolding of text (logogenesis through instantiation) with non-structural relations along the syntagmatic axis.

[4] To be clear, in SFL Theory, the unfolding of text is logogenesis, and the materialisation of text is instantiation: the process of instantiating potential as actual.

Serial Expansion

Martin & Rose (2007: 199):

The strategy of predicting phases of discourse with macroThemes and hyperThemes constructs a ‘hierarchy’ of periodicity of smaller units of discourse ‘scaffolded’ within larger units. But there are alternative ways of constructing unfolding discourse so it is sensible to the reader. One way to highlight this is to compare hierarchy with an alternative strategy for expanding text, which is the strategy Tutu uses to build up his argument. We can call this ‘serial expansion’. 

Blogger Comments:

[1] As previously demonstrated, it is not possible to predict what follows introductory paragraphs (macroThemes) and topic sentences (hyperThemes), except with the benefit of hindsight. Instead, in writing that conforms with these pedagogical principles, these "Themes" are elaborated by what follows. That is, Martin & Rose have confused textual transitions (conjunctive relations) with textual statuses (thematic prominence).

[2] The unacknowledged source of the notion of a ‘hierarchy of periodicity' is Halliday (1981).

[3] To be clear, Martin & Rose have not identified the units of which these higher level Themes are elements, nor discussed their complementary elements: higher level Rhemes.

[4] To be clear, these 'alternative ways' are the non-structural resources of the textual metafunction: conjunction, reference, ellipsis-&-substitution, and lexical cohesion.

[5] As will be seen, this alternative strategy of 'serial expansion' is cohesive conjunction, the textual resource that Martin & Rose have already unwittingly drawn on in describing their higher level Themes and News (see [1] above).

Confusing Structure With Instantiation

Martin & Rose (2007: 199):

As analysts, we tend to treat texts as objects, and reify the structure that in fact unfolds as spoken or written discourse is produced. So it is important to keep in mind that the periodicity we are discussing here is an unfolding process, not a rigid structure linking parts to wholes.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, this follows Martin (1992) in confusing structure with instantiation; evidence here. In SFL Theory, structure is the relation between elements on the syntagmatic axis, whereas the unfolding of discourse is the logogenesis of text through the instantiation of potential. But see [2] below.

[2] To be clear, as far as (lowest level) Theme and New is concerned, this is accidentally true. This is because, unknown to Martin & Rose, the process of selecting Themes and News forms not structures, but patterns of instantiation in the logogenesis of text.

[3] To be clear, Martin & Rose have not presented any structures; they have merely presented single elements — (macro- & micro-) Theme and New — as if they were structures. There has been no account of the complementary elements — (macro- & micro-) Rheme and Given — with which they would form structures.

[4] To be clear, this confuses constituency (part-whole relations) with structure (part-part relations). In SFL Theory, constituency is modelled as a rank scale: a clause consists of groups ± phrases, which consist of words, which consist of morphemes, whereas structure is modelled as the relations between functional elements at each of these ranks: Theme to Rheme, Senser to Process to Phenomenon, etc.

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.

Surfing Through Waves Of HyperTheme And HyperNew

Martin & Rose (2007: 195-6):

As a general rule, writing looks forward more often than it looks back. So hyperThemes are more common than hyperNews; there’s more ‘prospect’ than ‘retrospect’. But examples of higher level News are not hard to find. Here are two examples from Mandela’s summary of his life at the end of his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom (we’ll return to this text in Chapter 8). Both examples include a hyperTheme, complementing the consolidating hyperNew (in bold):

But then I slowly saw that not only was I not free, but my brothers and sisters were not free, I saw that it was not just my freedom that was curtailed, but the freedom of everyone who looked like I did.

That is when I joined the African National Congress, and that is when the hunger for my own freedom became the greater hunger for the freedom of my people. It was this desire for the freedom of my people to live their lives with dignity and self-respect that animated my life, that transformed a frightened young man into a bold one, that drove a law-abiding attorney to become a criminal, that turned a family-loving husband into a man without a home, that forced a life-loving man to live like a monk. I am no more virtuous or self-sacrificing than the next man, but I found that I could not even enjoy the poor and limited freedoms I was allowed when I knew my people were not free.

Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me.

When I walked out of prison, that was my mission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor both. Some say that has now been achieved. But I know that this is not the case.

The truth is that we are not yet free; we have merely achieved the freedom to be free, the right not to be oppressed. We have not taken the final step of our journey but the first step on a longer and even more difficult road. For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

The true test of our devotion to freedom is just beginning.

In general terms, the hyperTheme is paraphrased by the body of the paragraph, which is in turn paraphrased by the hyperNew. But the hyperNew is never an exact paraphrase of the hyperTheme, nor is it simply a summary of the wave’s trough; it takes the text to a new point, which we could only get to by surfing through the waves.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, if this bare assertion is true, it merely means that writers who conform to these pedagogical principles use topic sentences (hyperThemes) more than paragraph summaries (hyperNews).

[2] To be clear, paragraph summaries (hyperNews) are "hard to find" in spoken language. The reader is invited to falsify this claim.

[3] To be clear, if a topic sentence (hyperTheme) is paraphrased by the body of the paragraph and this is paraphrased the paragraph summary (hyperNew), then there is no meaningful distinction between the three in terms of thematicity or newness. But, in any case, an examination of the two texts demonstrates that the three segments in each case are not paraphrases of each other.

More importantly, this has less to do with textual prominence than textual transitions through logico-semantic relations. For example, on this description, the body of a paragraph elaborates the topic sentence (hyperTheme) through (appositive) exemplification, while the paragraph summary (hyperNew) elaborates the body of the paragraph through (clarifying) summation; see Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 612-6). 

[4] To be clear, anyone trying to surf through waves has misunderstood the notion of surfing, also.

HyperNew: Writing Pedagogy Misrepresented As Linguistic Theory

Martin & Rose (2007: 195):

While hyperThemes predict what each phase of discourse will be about, new information accumulates in each clause as the phase unfolds. In written texts in particular, this accumulation of new information is often distilled in a final sentence, that thus functions as a hyperNew to the phase. HyperThemes tell us where we’re going in a phase; hyperNews tell us where we’ve been.

Blogger Comments:

This is misleading, because it misrepresents writing pedagogy as linguistic theory. To be clear, 'hyperNew' is Martin's (1992) rebranding of 'paragraph summary'. The only texts that include a paragraph summary are written texts where the writer conforms to this writing principle.

Misrepresenting HyperTheme And Misunderstanding Field

Martin & Rose (2007: 194):

In many registers, hyperThemes tend to involve evaluation, so that the following text justifies the appraisal, at the same time as it gives us more detail about the field of the hyperTheme (its ‘topic’).

Blogger Comments:

[1] This is misleading. To be clear, in almost all registers of language, hyperThemes do not feature at all. The only texts that feature hyperThemes are those that conform to 'topic sentence' principle of writing pedagogy.

[2] To be clear, in SFL Theory, 'field' refers to the ideational dimension of the culture as semiotic system. When Martin & Rose use the term 'field', they are usually — as here — referring to the ideational dimension of semantics, even though they misunderstand field as a dimension of register (a sub-potential of language) which they, in turn, misunderstand as context, as documented in great detail here.

HyperTheme: Writing Pedagogy Misrepresented As Linguistic Theory

Martin & Rose (2007: 194):

As noted at the beginning of this chapter Helena introduces the phase of discourse we’ve just been considering as ‘living hell’, and she does so with a marked Theme

After about three years with the special forces, our hell began.

Her evaluation of their life as our hell functions as a kind of ‘topic sentence' for the events which follow as she spells out what hell is. From a linguistic perspective we can treat this ‘topic sentence’ as a kind of higher level Theme: a hyperTheme. In doing so we’re saying that its relation to the text which follows is like the relation of a clause Theme to the rest of its clause. In both contexts the Theme gives us an orientation to what is to come: our frame of reference as it were. Beyond this, the hyperTheme is predictive; it establishes expectations about how the text will unfold.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, like the term 'topic sentence' itself, this is writing pedagogy, not linguistic theory, because it is a proposal about how to write, not a proposition about how to model language.

[2] To be clear, the term 'hypertheme' is from Daneš (1974), where it refers to the first appearance of a repeated Theme ('hyper' in the sense of 'above' the second appearance). For clarifying critiques of Martin's use of 'hypertheme', see the series of posts here.

Misrepresenting Halliday On New Information

Martin & Rose (2007: 192):

For Halliday there are two overlapping waves involved: a thematic wave with a crest at the beginning of the clause, and a news wave with a crest at the end (where the main pitch movement would be if the clause were read aloud). In this phase, participant identification links the unmarked Themes together, and patterns of negative appraisal link up choices for New. Recurrent choices for Theme and related choices for New work together to package discourse as phases of information.

Blogger Comments:

This is misleading, because it is untrue. For Halliday, a Theme is a peak of prominence at the beginning of a clause, whereas the focus of New information is a peak of prominence at either the beginning or end of an information unit. An information unit may be co-extensive with a clause, or extend over part of a clause or extend beyond a single clause. In short, the focus of New information can occur anywhere, or nowhere, in a clause.

Misanalysing Information Flow

Martin & Rose (2007: 192-3):

An outline of information flow at this level of analysis is provided in Table 6.1.

 

Blogger Comments:

The table below presents a Theme analysis that is line with SFL Theory, and presents one of several possible interpretations of the distribution of Given and New information in this portion of text. Each focus of New information, realised phonologically by tonic prominence, is highlighted as bold, and the extent of New information, coloured blue, is taken to be the element of clause structure in which focus of New appears.

Theme				Rheme
structural	interpersonal	topical
		marked	unmarked
		After about three years with the special forces		our hell began
			He	became very quiet, withdrawn
	Sometimes		he	would just press his face into his hands
and				shake uncontrollably
			I	realised
			he	was drinking too much
Instead of				resting at night
			he	would wander from window to window
			He	tried to hide his wild consuming fear
but			I	saw it
		In the early hours of the morning between two and half-past-two		I jolt awake from his rushed breathing
				Rolls this way, that side of the bed
			He	's pale, ice cold in a sweltering night — sopping wet with sweat
Eyes bewildered, but dull like the dead
And the shakes: The terrible convulsions and blood-curdling shrieks of fear and pain from the bottom of his soul
	Sometimes		he	sits motionless
	just			staring in front of him

The important foci of New overlooked by Martin & Rose are those in the marked Themes, and those that mark contrasts: resting vs wander and hide (vs saw). Many other readings are possible; for example, either or both instances of the interpersonal Theme sometimes could be realised with tonic prominence, marking them as the foci of New information.

Mistaking Rheme For New Information

Martin & Rose (2007: 192):

At the other end of the clause in writing we typically have what Halliday calls New. This is a different kind of textual prominence having to do with the information we are expanding upon as text unfolds. In the phase of discourse we are concentrating on here, the News have to do with how Helena's husband felt and so the dominant pattern has to do with negative appraisal (depressed mental states and strange behaviour). Note how the choices for New are much more varied than the choices for unmarked Theme.They elaborate with human human interest, whereas choices for unmarked Theme tend to fix our gaze.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, this confuses Rheme with New. On the one hand, Rheme is the element of clause structure in which the Theme is developed (Halliday & Matthiessen 2014: 89). On the other hand, New is not an element of clause structure, but an element of the structure of an information unit, which can

• be co-extensive with a clause,
• extend over a portion of a clause, or
• extend further than a clause.

Moreover, New information can occur in either the Theme or the Rheme of a clause; that is, New is not restricted to the Rheme. Examples of the conflation of New with Theme in Martin & Rose's data include the marked Themes. Each of these is punctuated graphologically by a comma, which marks the extent of the Theme as an information unit, which obligatorily includes a focus of New information. Given that the marked Themes in Helena's texts are restricted to circumstances of temporal Location which introduce each new time-phase in her autobiography, it is not surprising that each of these marked Themes presents the temporal Location as New information.

[2] It will be seen in the next post that Martin & Rose's analysis of New information (and unmarked Theme) is markedly different from an analysis based on SFL principles — not only because New is ignored when thematic.

"Marked Themes Are Often Used To Signal A Shift In Major Participants"

 Martin & Rose (2007: 191-2):

Themes that are not Subject have a different effect; they are more prominent because they are atypical, so we refer to them as 'marked' Themes. Marked Themes can include circumstantial elements, such as places or times, or they may be participants that are not the Subject of the clause. Marked Themes are often used to signal new phases in a discourse: a new setting in time, or a shift in major participants; that is they function to scaffold discontinuity.

In Helena's story, marked Themes play an important role in moving us from one phase of the story to the next. The story's key marked Themes are outlined below. We can see the role they play in moving us from Incident to Incident and from Incidents to Interpretation; and the role they play with Incidents to frame the meeting, operations and repercussion phases. These are underlined below:

Incident 1

As an eighteen-year-old, I met a young man in his twenties
Then one day he said he was going on a 'trip'
More than a year ago, I met my first love again through a good friend

Incident 2

After my unsuccessful marriage, I met another policeman
[Then he says: He and three of our friends have been promoted]
After about three years in the special forces, our hell began

Interpretation

Today I know the answer to all my questions and heartache

Blogger Comments:

[1] Again, this confuses markedness with prominence. All Themes are textually prominent, but marked Themes typically carry an added feature of contrast (Halliday & Matthiessen 2014: 105).

[2] To be clear, participants that are not the Subject of a clause, Complements, are very rarely thematic in declarative clauses; examples include now that I like and lobsters I never eat. There are no instances of Complement/Themes in any of the texts analysed by Martin & Rose, and the claim that marked Themes are used to signal a shift in major participants is, at best, unsupported by evidence.

[3] To be clear, here Martin & Rose have borrowed and misused a linguistic term introduced by Vygotsky, who defined scaffolding instruction as the role of teachers and others in supporting the learner's development and providing support structures to get to that next stage or level. The theoretical notion of "scaffolding discontinuity" is thus nonsensical.

[4] To be clear, Helena's story is a temporally ordered autobiography, and she simply thematises temporal circumstances of Location to introduce each time period.

Misanalysing Theme

Martin & Rose (2007: 191):

All the Themes are highlighted, and the marked Themes are underlined below:

He became very quiet.
[He became] Withdrawn.
Sometimes he would just press his face into his hands
and [he would] shake uncontrollably.
I realised
he was drinking too much.
Instead of resting at night, he would wander from window to window.
He tried to hide his wild consuming fear,
but I saw it.
In the early hours of the morning between two and half-past-two, I jolt awake from his rushed breathing.
[He] Rolls this way, that side of the bed.
He's pale.
[He's] ice cold in a sweltering night
[He's] — sopping wet with sweat.
[His] Eyes [are] bewildered,
but [his eyes are] dull like the dead.
And [he had] the shakes.
[He had] The terrible convulsions and blood-curdling shrieks of fear and pain from the bottom of his soul.
Sometimes he sits motionless,
just staring in front of him.

The main recurrent choice for Subject/Theme in this phase is Helena's husband, realised as he. This identity gives us our basic orientation to the field for this phase of discourse; Helena's husband is the hook round which she spins the new information she gives us in each figure. As the Theme of each clause, he is our recurrent point of departure, our angle on the field in each figure. These kinds of Subject/Themes give continuity to a phase of discourse. Because they are the most frequent kind of Theme in discourse, listeners/readers perceive them as 'unmarked' Themes; they are mildly prominent in the flow of discourse, because they are the point of departure for each clause, but because they are typical they are not especially prominent.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, as previously explained, Martin & Rose misrepresent the data by inserting Themes that the author chose not to instantiate. That is, Martin & Rose give higher textual status (Theme) to elements that the author ellipsed in order to give them lower textual status. Moreover, Martin & Rose mistake the Subjects of clauses with marked Themes for (unmarked) Themes, as previously explained. A thematic analysis that is consistent with SFL Theory is presented below for comparison.

Theme				Rheme
structural	interpersonal	topical
		marked	unmarked
			He	became very quiet, withdrawn
	Sometimes		he	would just press his face into his hands
and				shake uncontrollably
			I	realised
			he	was drinking too much
Instead of				resting at night
			he	would wander from window to window
			He	tried to hide his wild consuming fear
but			I	saw it
		In the early hours of the morning between two and half-past-two		I jolt awake from his rushed breathing
				Rolls this way, that side of the bed
			He	's pale, ice cold in a sweltering night — sopping wet with sweat
Eyes bewildered, but dull like the dead
And the shakes: The terrible convulsions and blood-curdling shrieks of fear and pain from the bottom of his soul
	Sometimes		he	sits motionless
	just			staring in front of him

[2] To be clear, in SFL Theory, 'field' refers to the ideational dimension of the culture as semiotic system; that is, 'field' refers to what is happening in terms of the culture. Martin's use of 'field' typically refers to the ideational semantics of a text, due to the fact that he misunderstands context as register, a sub-potential of language, such that field is the ideational dimension of register.

[3] To be clear, this confuses Rheme (the body of the clause as message) with New information. New information is not restricted to the Rheme of a clause, as demonstrated by every Theme realised by tonic prominence, the phonological realisation of the focus of New information. Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 652):

… thematic status may be combined with either given or new, and the same is true of rhematic status.

[4] To be clear, the figure is a unit in the ideational semantics of Halliday & Matthiessen (1999). Since the concern here is the textual metafunction, the relevant semantic unit is the message.

[5] To be clear, a Theme is not an "angle" on field (see [2]). Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 88, 89):

We may assume that in all languages the clause has the character of a message, or quantum of information in the flow of discourse: it has some form of organisation whereby it fits in with, and contributes to, the flow of discourse. …

The Theme is the element that serves as the point of departure of the message; it is that which locates and orients the clause within its context. The speaker chooses the Theme as his or her point of departure to guide the addressee in developing an interpretation of the message; by making part of the message prominent as Theme, the speaker enables the addressee to process the message.

[6] To be clear, the author's use of ellipsis — which Martin & Rose have undone (see [1]) — gives continuity to this phase of discourse. Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 635):

Ellipsis marks the textual status of continuous information within a certain grammatical structure. At the same time, the non-ellipsed elements of that structure are given the status of being contrastive in the environment of continuous information. Ellipsis thus assigns differential prominence to the elements of a structure: if they are non-prominent (continuous), they are ellipsed; if they are prominent (contrastive), they are present. The absence of elements through ellipsis is an iconic realisation of lack of prominence.

[7] To be clear, this confuses markedness with prominence and attributes a knowledge of SFL theory — the perception of unmarked Themes — to listeners/readers. All Themes are textually prominent, but marked Themes typically carry an added feature of contrast. Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 105):

When some other element comes first, it constitutes a ‘marked’ choice of Theme; such marked Themes usually either express some kind of setting for the clause or carry a feature of contrast.

Marked Themes can be 'doubly prominent' if the focus of New information falls with the Theme. Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 328):

One way of giving prominence to a Theme is to construe it as if it was a circumstance of Matter; e.g. as for the ghost, it hasn’t been seen since. By being first introduced circumstantially, the ghost becomes a focused Theme.

However, as will be seen, such focused Themes are not possible in the periodicity model of Martin & Rose, since it is falsely assumed that New information always falls within the Rheme of a clause.