The Thought Occurs

Tuesday 19 June 2018

Lemke On Covariate "Structure"

Lemke (1988: 159) reinterpreted his 'covariate structure' as a structuring principle, rather than a kind of structure:
My own 'covariate structure' (Lemke 1985), which includes Halliday's univariate type, is for the case of homogeneous relations of co-classed units, and should perhaps be called a 'structuring principle' rather than a kind of structure. 

Wednesday 6 June 2018

The Distinction Between Generality, Abstraction And Instantiation In SFL

Halliday & Matthiessen (1999: 615):
General terms are not necessarily abstract; a bird is no more abstract than a pigeon.

Halliday & Matthiessen (1999: 144-5):
In other words, the elaboration sets up a relationship either of 
  • generality (delicacy), of 
  • abstraction (realisation), or of 
  • token to type (instantiation);

Blogger Comments:
  1. Generality/delicacy is equivalent to hyponymy and can be construed as either an identifying or attributive relation;
  2. Abstraction/realisation can only be construed as an identifying relation;
  3. Instantiation can only be construed as an attributive relation.