Assignment Topic

Clause as Change
Submitted by
Saima Mustafa

Submitted To
Sir Amir

Subject
Systematic Functional Linguistics
 Clause as exchange

The nature of dialogue

The most fundamental types of speech role, which lie behind all the more specific types
that we may eventually be able to recognize, are just two : (i) giving and (ii) demanding. Either
the speaker is giving something to the listener (a piece of information, for example) or he is
demanding something from him. Even these elementary categories already involve, complex
nations : giving means ‘inviting to receive’, and demanding means ‘inviting to give’. The
speaker is not only doing something himself ; he is also requiring something of the listener.
Typically, therefore, an ‘act’ of speaking is something that might more appropriately be called an
‘interact’ : it is an exchange, in which giving implies receiving and demanding implies giving in
response.

Cutting across this basic distinction between giving and demanding is another distinction,
equally fundamental that relates to the nature of the commodity being exchanged. This may be
either (a) goods-&-services, or (b) information. If you say something to me with the aim of
getting me to do something for you, this is an exchange of good-&-services but if you say
something to me with the aim of getting me to tell you something. This is an exchange of
information. These two variables when taken together, define the four primary speech functions
of OFFER, COMMAND, STATEMENT, and QUESTION. These in turn are matched by a set

Commodity (a) Good and service (b) information

exchange

Role in

exchange

(i) giving ‘ofter’ ‘statement’

Would you like this teapot? He’s giving her the teapot

(ii) demanding ‘command’ ‘quetions’

 Give me that teapot What is he giving her?

Figure 1 giving or demanding. Good and service or information

Of desired response : accepting and ofter, carrying out a command, acknow

ledging a statement and answering a question. See table (2).

Table 2 speech functions and responses

initiation Expected response Discreationary

alternative

Give good and service Ofter Acceptance Rejection

Demand Command Undertaking Refusal

Give information Statement Acknowledgment Contradiction

Demand Questions answer Disclaimer

When language is used to exchange information, the clause takes on the form of a proposition.
The semantic function of a clause in the exchange of information is a proposition and the
semantic function of a clause in the exchange of goods and services is a proposal.

The mood element

When we come to look closely at statements and questions, and at the various responses to which
these naturally give rise, we find that in English they are typically expressed by means of a
particular kind of grammatical variation; variation which extends over just one part of the clause,
leaving the remainder unaffected.

Consider the traditional rhyme :

He loves me.

He don’t.
 He’ll have me.

He won’t.

But he can’t, so he don’t

Compare this with a typically piece of information-exchanging dialogue :

The duke’s given away that teapot, hasn’t he?

- Oh, has he?

- Yes, he has.
- No he hasn’t!
- I wish he had.
- He hasn’t; but he will.
- Will he?
- He might.

The mood consists of two parts: (1) the subject, which is a nominal group, and (2) the finite
element, which is part of a verbal group. The subject when it first appear, may be a nominal
group, and the finite elements is one of a small number of verbal operators expressing tense (e.g.
is, has) or modality (e.g. can, must). However, that in some instance the finite element and the
lexical verb are ‘fused’ into a single word e.g. loves. This happen when the verb is in simple past
or simple present (tense), active (voice), positive (polarity) and neutral (contrast). Subject and
finite are closely linked together and combine to form one constituent which we call the Mood.
The mood is the element that realizes the selection of mood in the clause. It has sometimes been
called the ‘modal’ element; but the difficulty with this is that the term modal is ambiguous since
it corresponds both to mood and to modality. The remainder of the clause we shall call residue.

The presences of the mood element, consisting of subject plus finite, realize the feature is
indicative. Within the indicative, what is significant is order of subject and finite. The order
subject before finite realizes ‘declarative’, the order finite before subject realizes ‘yes/no
interrogative’; in ‘WH-interrogative’ the order is subject before finite if the WH-element is the
subject and finite before subject otherwise.
Primary tense mans past, present, or future at the moment of speaking; it is time relative to now.
Modality means the speaker’s judgment of the probabilities, or the obligations, involved in what
he is saying.

Structure of the Residue

The residue consists of functional elements of three kinds; predicator, complement and adjunct.
There can be only one predicator, one or two complements, and an indefinite number of adjuncts
up to, in principle, about seven. .

An example is

Sister susie ‘s sewing shirts For soldier

Subject finite predicator complement adjunct

Mood residue

Predicator, the predicator is present in all non-elliptical major clauses, apart from certain clauses
wit verbs be and have. The function of predicator is fourfold (i) it specifies time reference other
than reference to the time of the speech event, i.e. ‘secondary’ tense; past, present and future
relative to the primary tense, (ii) it specifies various other aspects and phases like seeming,
trying, hoping, (iii) it specifies the voice: active or passive, (iv) it specifies the process (action,
event, mental process, relation) that is predicated of the subject.

There are two verbs in English which in simple past and simple present tenses appear as finite
only, without being fused with a distinct element as predicator. These are be and have (have in
the sense of ‘posses’, not have in the sense of ‘take’).

Complement, a complement is an element within the residue that has the potential of being
subject but is not. It is typically realized by a nominal group.

Adjunct (circumstantial), is an element that has not got the potential of being subject. It is
typically realized by an adverbial group or prepositional phrase. Prepositional phrase has its own
internal structure, containing a complement within it.
Conjunctive adjunct, tend to occur at points in the clause which are significant for textual
organization, which means at some boundary or other: (clause initial, as the part of textual
theme; (ii) clause final as afterthought; (iii) between theme and rheme; (iv) between mood and
residue.

Modal adjunct, from the point of view of their place in the mood structure, modal adjunct fall
into two groups: (i) mood adjunct, these relate specifically to the meaning of the finite verbal
operators, expressing probability, usuality, obligation, inclination or time. They therefore
typically occur next to the finite, either before or after it. (ii)Comment adjunct, as far as position
in the clause is concerned, these are like conjunctive adjunct; they tend to occur thematically,
finally, between theme and rheme, or between mood and residue; and when medial, they are
typically associated with a boundary between information units.

WH- Interrogative, exclamative, and imperative clauses

(1) WH- interrogative, the WH- element is a distinct element in the interpersonal structure of the
clause. Its function is to specify the entity that the questioner wishes to have supplied. The WH-
element is always conflated with one or another of the three function subject, complement or
adjunct. If it is conflated with the subject, it is the part of the mood element, and the order within
the mood element must therefore be subject. If on other hand the WH- element is conflated with
a complement or adjunct, it is part of residue; and in that case the typical interrogative ordering
within the mood element reassert itself and have finite preceding subject.

Who killed Cock Robin

Subject/WH (past) Kill complement

finite predicator

residue
(2) Exclamatives, these clauses have the WH-element what or how, in nominal or adverbial
group. But since the finite subject sequence became specifically associated with interrogative
mood, the normal order in exclamatives has become subject finite.

(3) Imperatives, it is may have a mood element consisting of finite plus subject; or one consisting
of finite only, or of subject only; or no mood element at all. Whether or not there is a mood
element, and whatever its structure, an imperative clause may also have a mood tag.

Polarity and modality

Polarity is the choice between positive and negative, as in is/isn’t, do/don’t. Typically, in
English, polarity is expressed in the finite element; each finite verbal operator has two forms, one
positive is, was, has, can etc. the other negative isn’t, wasn’t, hasn’t, can’t, that is this is the
reason why the finite element is thematic in a yes/no interrogative clause: such a clause is
precisely a request for information regarding polarity.

Proposition, in a proposition the meaning of positive and negative poles is asserting and denying:
positive ‘it is so’, negative ‘it isn’t so’.

Proposal, in proposal the meaning of the positive and negative poles is prescribing and
proscribing: positive ‘do it’, negative ‘don’t do it’.

Absence of elements of the modal structure

For any clause, there is one choice of subject that is ‘unmarked’-that is assumed, in the absence
of evidence to the contrary. In a giving clause (offer or statement), the unmarked subject is ‘I’;
while in demanding clause (question or command), the unmarked subject is ‘you’. This means
that if a clause that on other grounds can be interpreted as offer or statement occurs without a
subject, the listener will understand the subject ‘I’- that is, subject equals speaker. The principle
that the subject to be supplied in a case of ellipsis is always the modally unmarked one, I or you
according to the mood, can also be over ridden by the context.