A Problem With A Further Proposed 'Classifying' Type Of Focus

 Martin, Matthiessen & Painter (2010: 170-1):

Closely related to these ‘of’ expansions are groups that would be considered appositive in traditional terms. Here there is a relation between a thing and its class identity: the month of May, the state of Alabama, the city of Rome, the kingdom of Norway, the house of Windsor, the science of cladistics, the title of Mayor (cf. the month is May, the state is Alabama, etc.). We could assimilate these with the classifying type above.

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, in the 'classifying' subtype of Focus, the logical Head of the nominal group is realised by various words for 'subtype' (see previous post). Here, in contrast, the Head is not realised by a word for subtype, but by specific types of superordinate. For example, 'month' is neither a word for 'subtype', nor a subtype of 'May'. Consequently, even ignoring the problems outlined in the previous post, "assimilating" these with the classifying type of Focus is inconsistent within the authors' own model.

In short, in terms of SFL Theory, these are simply nominal groups in which Head conflates with Thing: