Tuesday, 24 May 2022

Problems With The 'Perspective' Subtype Of Focus

Martin, Matthiessen & Painter (2010: 170):
The Focus element can have a range of functions, which are outlined in Table 5.7 below.


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To be clear, the Focus subtype 'perspective' combines nominal groups with Pre-Deictics with nominal groups with Head and Thing conflated

The Pre-Deictic expressions are side, top, front, back, foot, peak, summit, root, start, end:


The Head/Thing nominal groups feature picture, painting, photo, drawing:


To be clear, in such nominal groups, picture, painting, photo, drawing is the entity that functions as the participant in the transitivity structure, and so, as Thing as well as Head. Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 394):
What all these [out-of-phase constructions] have in common is that, while the Thing (e.g. coffee) is the entity that is functioning as participant in the transitivity structure of the clause, the logical Head of the construction is something that constrains the entity in terms of the two variables mentioned above. It is the Head that determines the value of the entity in the mood system, and therefore as a potential Subject.

For example, in the clause Oscar burnt a picture of Dorian, the thing that was burnt was the picture, not Dorian.

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