4. The Interpersonal Function – Clause as Exchange

Interpersonal (enacts human relationships) – Mood

In the act of speaking, the speaker adopts for himself a particular speech role, and in
so doing assigns to the listener a complementary role which he wishes him to adopt in
his turn (Halliday p 68).
Language as interaction
 
  goods & services information
giving offer Statement
demanding command Question
  proposal Proposition

Offer: Would you like a cup of tea? (no 'standard' realization)

Command: Make me some tea! (typically realized by imperative)
Statement: I had to make the tea myself. (typically realized by declarative)
Question: Do you take sugar with your tea? What kind of tea do you prefer? (typically realized by
interrogative)
 

  expected response discretionary response way of responding

(supporting) (confronting)
Offer acceptance Rejection verbal/non-verbal
Command undertaking Refusal non-verbal/verbal
Statement acknowledgement Contradiction verbal (non-verbal)
Question answer Disclaimer verbal

Response to offer: Yes please / No thanks.

Response to command: Hearer does something, or refuses to do something
Response to statement: Hearer acknowledges the proposition or contradicts it (e.g. yes; mm; right /
No, you didn't; That's not true.).
Response to question: Yes; No; I prefer herbal tea. / Why are you asking me that?
  declarative  
  indicative   yes/no (polarity)
Mood <   interrogative <  
 
  imperative   wh-
 

declarative: Subject^Finite

interrogative: Finite^Subject

imperative: lacks mood element

Subject, Finite, Predicator, Complement, Adjunct
 

I Am writing this handout on my PC

Subject Finite Predicator Complement Adjunct
Mood Residue

Mood: Subject + Finite

Mood: 'carries the burden of the clause as an interactive event'

- the nub of the proposition (Halliday p 77)

Subject:

 The element about which something is predicated; the entity that the Speaker wants to make
responsible for the validity of the proposition being advanced in the clause. (Thompson)
 the entity in respect of which the assertion is claimed to have validity (Halliday)

The functions of the Finite are to show:

 tense (for what time in relation to that of speaking is the proposition valid?)
 polarity (does the proposition have positive or negative validity?)
 modality (to what extent is the proposition valid?)

Other things to note:

 the finite is a verbal operator

 the finite and the Predicator may be realized together (simple past or simple present tense)
 a clausal Subject may be extraposed so that we get a split Subject
 the Complement corresponds to complement/predicative/object in many other grammars
 existential there is analysed as subject, followed by Finite^Predicator^Complement
 a clause may contain two complements
 'Adjunct' corresponds to 'Adverbial' in many other grammars (and thus covers adjuncts,
disjuncts and conjuncts)

Mood tags:

 refer back to the mood element

 may be useful in identifying the Subject and the Finite

I have written this handout on my PC haven't  I

Subject Finite Predicator Complement Adjunct Finite Subject
Mood Residue Mood tag

 
At that moment the bell in the sounded for the end of class didn't it
corridor
 Adjunct Subject Finite + Pred. Adjunct Finite Subject
 Res- Mood  -idue  Mood tag

I think this is the right building, isn't it (not don't I)

I don't think this is the right building, is it? (not do I)

Relations to other metafunctions

 

Function in transitivity Interpersonal function Realization

(experiential)
Process Finite and Predicator verbal group
Participant  Subject / Complement nominal group
Circumstance Adjunct adverbial group / prepositional
phrase

He repeated their names silently

Sayer Process: verbal verbiage circumstance: manner
Subject finite + predicator complement adjunct
Mood Residue
Theme Rheme

Provide an analysis of these sentences.

1. Naturally Matilda was put in the bottom class.

2. Their teacher was called Miss Honey.
3. She could not have been more than twenty-three or twenty-four.
4. Miss Jennifer Honey never raised her voice.
5. She seldom smiled.
6. She seemed to understand totally the bewilderment and fear of the children.
7. It intrigued her that a five-year old child was reading long novels by Dickens.
8. Miss Trunchbull always marched like a storm-trooper.
9. There was an aura of menace about her.
10. Thank goodness, we don't meet many people like her in this world.

Elements outs/ide the Mood + Residue structure

 vocatives (interpersonal)
 expletives (interpersonal)
  conjunctive adjuncts (textual)
 conjunctions (textual)

Go back to the sentences you analysed, and identify mood and residue.

Mood structures in interrogatives

 yes/no interrogatives are marked by the order Finite^Subject and ask the listener to specify
the polarity of the message
 wh-interrogatives ask the listener to fill in a missing part of the message, marked by a wh-
element.
 the wh-element always combines with another function (participant or circumstance) and is
normally placed in thematic position t
 when he wh-element combines with the function of Subject, we have the order Subject^Finite,
and the wh-element is part of the Mood.
 when the wh-element combines with a complement or adjunct, we have the order
Finite^Subject, and the wh-element is part of the Residue.

Mood structure in imperatives?

 unmarked imperatives have no Mood element (e.g. Listen to me)

 imperative with Finite: Do listen! Don't listen to them.
 imperative with Subject: You listen to me!
 imperative with Subject and Finite: Don't you argue with me!
 let's as a kind of Subject: Let's talk about it. Don't let's argue about it!
 imperatives with Mood tags: Listen to me, will you. Let's go for a walk, shall we? Don't listen
to them, will you? (Compare: Sit down, won't you)

Modality
 

  Probability ('maybe') -- she may be there

  Modalization <    
  (information) Usuality ('sometimes') -- she's always there
Modality <      
    Obligation ('is wanted to') -- you must leave
  Modulation <    
  (goods & services) Readiness ('wants to') -- I'll help you.

Readiness à inclination and ability:

I'll help you.

I can't help you.
"We mustn’t hurry this," Miss Honey said, "so let’s have another cup of tea. And do eat that other
slice of bread. You must be hungry."

The modal space: the space between yes and no.

This is an important discovery True

This must be an important discovery. high probability

This should be an important discovery.

This could be an important discovery.

This may be an important discovery.

This might be an important discovery. low probability

This is not an important discovery False

 

See Halliday p. 357 (figure)

 

Modalization positive Modulation

‘indicative type’ ‘imperative type’
[probability]   [usuality]   [obligation]   [inclination]
  it is       do!  
certainly it must be Always   Required must do  determined
probably it will be Usually   Supposed will do  keen
possibly it may be sometimes   Allowed may do  willing
  it isn’t   negative   don’t  

Modal adjuncts

Modal and conjunctive adjuncts ‘construct a context for the clause’ (Halliday p. 84)

Modal adjuncts correspond roughly to 'disjunct' in the 'grunnfag' grammar, with the addition of
adjuncts marking frequency/usuality, e.g. often, usually, occasionally)
 

                    Mood (roughly: modal disjuncts / truth-evaluating

disjuncts)
Modal adjuncts <
                   Comment (roughly: fact-evaluating disjuncts)

Mood adjuncts express

 temporal relationships (e.g. yet, already, still)

 polarity (e.g. yes, no, not)
 modality
o probability (e.g. definitely, maybe)
 o usuality (e.g. never, always, sometimes)
o inclination / obligation (e.g. gladly, reluctantly)

Comment adjuncts express

 the speaker’s attitude to the proposition as a whole, viz. opinion, admission, persuasion,
entreaty, presumption, desirability, reservation, validation, evaluation, prediction. (See
Halliday p 49)
 Examples: frankly, unfortunately, actually, to be honest

[Adjunct: textual] However [Adjunct: interpersonal] unfortunately we can’t meet [Adjunct:

experiential / Location:] at noon.
Fortunately, although only a few years ago they held the student at arm’s length,
today the business houses welcome the opportunity to aid the student, not only from
an increased sense of community responsibility but also from the realization that the
student of today is the interior designer of tomorrow – that the student already is "in
the trade". Even the "history of furniture" can hardly be taught exclusively from
photographs and lantern slides. Here, too, the reality of actual furniture must be
experienced. The professional organizations such as American Institute of Interior
Designers, National Society of Interior Designers, Home Fashions League and
various trade associations, can and do aid greatly in this work. Certainly every
educator involved in interior design should be a member and active in the work of
one of these organizations. Not only should every educator above the rank of
instructor be expected to be a member of one of the professional organizations, but
his first qualification for membership as an educator should be so sharply scrutinized
that membership would be equivalent to certification to teach the subject.
Participation for the educator in this case, however, would have to be raised to full
and complete membership. The largest of these organizations at present denies to the
full time educator any vote on the conduct and standards of the group and, indeed,
refuses him even the right to attach the customary initials after his name in the college
catalog.

    Explicit Implicit
Modulation subjective (subject's I insist that he write a He must write a term
wish) term paper. / I want him paper. / He could write
to write … …
  objective (someone It is necessary for him He's supposed to write a
else's wish) to write a term paper. term paper
Modalization subjective (subject's I'm sure this is right. This must/may be right.
view)
  objective (outside view) It's certain that this is This is certainly /
right. perhaps right.

1. "I expect you just happen to like living in a very simple way," Matilda said, probing a little
further.
2. "It must make house cleaning an awful lot easier and you don’t have to polish or any of those
silly little ornaments lying around that have to be dusted every day."
3. And I suppose if you don’t have a fridge you don’t have to go out and buy all sorts of junky
things like eggs and mayonnaise and ice-cream to fill it up with.
4. It must save a terrific lot of shopping."
5. Why shouldn’t you ask?
 6. You were bound to ask in the end.
7. Perhaps I even wanted you to ask.
8. Maybe that’s why I invited you here after all.
9. I suppose we might call you a grown-up child.
10. This piece of paper was supposedly written by my father.
11. I am certain it’s a forgery.

Combinations of modal expressions

1. I think I might be able to.

2. It couldn’t possibly have been you.
3. She couldn’t possibly keep a gigantic secret like that bottled up inside her.
4. They almost certainly would fail to realize what an astounding event had taken place.