Seriously Misrepresenting Behavioural Processes

 Martin, Matthiessen & Painter (2010: 124):

Included in this behavioural group are processes which concern the creation of a symbolic representation. Verbs such as characterise, outline, describe, portray are used here, but again projection is not possible (e.g. they outline the plot is normal, but they outlined that the heroine was kidnapped is not possible) and these are behavioural rather than verbal.

Blogger Comments:

Here the authors appear to have completely lost the plot.

[1] The notion that behavioural processes are concerned with the creation of a symbolic representation is entirely inconsistent with the notion of behavioural processes in SFL Theory (Halliday 1985: 128-9; Halliday 1994: 139-40; Halliday & Matthiessen 2004: 248-52; Halliday & Matthiessen 2014: 301-2), and the authors provide no argument whatsoever in support for their novel proposal, let alone provide evidence of the greater explanatory power to be gained by creating this theoretical inconsistency.

[2] To be clear, there are three key criteria that rule out interpreting clauses featuring verbs such as characterise, outline, describe, portray as behavioural. Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 354) present the criteria for distinguishing process types as follows:

First, the number of inherent participants in a behavioural clause is one, whereas the number in such clauses is two, since each is incomplete without a second participant:

they characterised…

they outlined…
they described…
they portrayed…

Second, a behavioural clause necessarily construes the first participant as a conscious thing, whereas these clauses do not:

the report characterised…
the book outlined…
the article described…
the documentary portrayed…

Third, behavioural clauses are middle in voice, whereas these clauses are effective, and so operative or receptive:

…was characterised by…

…was outlined by…

…was described by…

…was portrayed by…

Importantly, these verbs serve as different (non-behavioural) process types, depending on the clause in which they figure; see, for example, 'Portray' As Relational Process.

[3] To be clear, as the above demonstrates, the inability of a process to project is insufficient reason to categorise it as behavioural.