English tense and aspect in Halliday's systemic functional grammar : a critical appraisal and an alternative

240 Pages·2008·2.31 MB·German

by  Bache

Introduction i
English Tense and Aspect in Halliday’s Systemic
Functional Grammar
ii English Tense and Aspect
Discussions in Functional Approaches to Language
Series Editors: Christopher Butler, Honorary Professor, University of Wales,
Swansea; Robin P. Fawcett, Emeritus Professor, Cardiff University
Editorial Board: John Bateman (University of Bremen); Joan Bybee (University of
New Mexico); Huang Guowen (Sun Yat-sen University); Lachlan Mackenzie (Free
University of Amsterdam); Jim Martin (University of Sydney); Jan Nuyts (Univer-
sity of Antwerp); Mick Short (Lancaster University); Anna Siewierska (Lancaster
University); Anne-Marie Simon Vandenbergen (Ghent University); Michael Stubbs
(University of Trier); Gordon Tucker (Cardiff University); Robert van Valin
(University of New York at Buffalo)
The books in this series are addressed to university teachers, researchers and
postgraduate students of linguistics as well as bright undergraduate readers. The
books are short (normally 150–200 pages) and readable but scholarly. They are all
published in paperback, so ensuring a flow of lively books on central topics in
functional linguistics that are within the financial reach of the intended readership.
The purpose of the series is to meet the need for a forum for discussing theoretical
issues in functional approaches to language that are too large for publication in
journal article form. It also welcomes descriptions of areas of language that are too
large for journal publication – and works that combine both theory and descrip-
tion. While the series complements Advances in Cognitive Linguistics (also an
Equinox series), it welcomes works that are both functional and oriented to the
cognitive aspects of language use.
Books in this series therefore typically present and evaluate new work in theory or
description or both. But they may also offer a critique of one or more previously
published works of these types. In all cases, however, authors are expected to
survey the relevant alternative approaches, and to say which they see as the most
promising one, and why. Books in this series therefore always give reasons for
preferring one position to another rather than simply describing a position – as in
all good discussions.
Published:
The Development of Scientific Writing: Linguistic Features and Historical Context,
David Banks
Forthcoming:
Alternative Architectures for Systemic Functional Linguistics: How do we Choose?,
Robin P. Fawcett
Process Types and Participant Roles in the English Clause: A New Systemic
Functional Approach, Amy Neale
The Structure of Modern Irish: A Functional Account, Brian Nolan
Introduction iii
English Tense and Aspect in Halliday’s
Systemic Functional Grammar
A Critical Appraisal and an Alternative
Carl Bache
iv English Tense and Aspect
Published by Equinox Publishing Ltd.
UK: Unit 6, The Village, 101 Amies St., London SW11 2JW
USA: DBBC, 28 Main Street, Oakville, CT 06779
www.equinoxpub.com
First published 2008
© Carl Bache 2008
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or trans-
mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, with-
out prior permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13 978 1 84553 351 9 (hardback)
978 1 84553 354 0 (paperback)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bache, Carl, 1953-
English tense and aspect in Halliday’s systemic functional grammar : a
critical appraisal and an alternative / Carl Bache.
p. cm. — (Discussions in functional approaches to language)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-84553-351-9 (hb)
ISBN-13: 978-1-84553-354-0 (pb)
1. Functionalism (Linguistics) 2. Halliday, M. A. K. (Michael
Alexander Kirkwood), 1925-3. English language—Verb. I. Title.
P147.B33 2008
425'.6—dc22
2007048639
Typeset by S.J.I. Service, New Delhi
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Lightning Source UK Ltd, Milton
Keynes, and LightningSource Inc., La Vergne, TN
Introduction v
Contents
Preface vii
1 Introduction 1
2 An introduction to the IFG model of tense 7
2.1 Tense in English 7
2.2 Aspect and phase 18
3 Problems with the IFG approach to tense 25
3.1 IFG tense: a functional category? 25
3.2 How are the choices ordered? 28
3.3 What is it we choose when we choose? 30
3.4 Primary versus secondary ‘present’ – just a slight difference? 35
3.5 What contrasts and choice relations should be reflected by
system networks? 39
3.6 Is the IFG model observationally adequate? 46
3.7 Concluding remarks 59
4 Towards an alternative 63
4.1 Preliminaries 63
4.2 The Cardiff approach to tense 65
4.3 Harder’s contribution 80
4.4 Principles of category description 97
5 A new SFL description of tense and aspect 115
5.1 Organization and inventory 116
5.2 The status of BE going to + infinitive 128
5.3 Univariate characteristics of verbal expressions: seriality 134
vi English Tense and Aspect
5.4 Multivariate characteristics of verbal expressions: perfect
forms 141
5.5 Multivariate characteristics of verbal expressions:
progressive forms 150
6 The narrative mode 175
7 Conclusion 195
References 203
List of the sources of the examples 207
Appendix: Empirical investigation of the SFL tense system
in BNC 209
Index 219
Introduction vii
Preface
In 1998, while enjoying a research stay in Australia, I was invited by Jim
Martin to give a talk on my work on tense and aspect in English at a Friday
afternoon SFL seminar at Sydney University. At the time I knew only too well
that Michael Halliday and Christian Matthiessen reject the adequacy and
usefulness of operating with categories like aspect and action, in addition to
tense, in the description of the traditional tense forms in English. But having
put a lot of energy into constructing a model carefully sorting out the choice
relations of finite English verb forms in terms of not only tense but also
aspect and action (cf. e.g. Bache 1985 and 1997), I was rather hoping on that
sunny Friday afternoon to be able to convince my audience (especially Chris-
tian, who was kind enough to attend the seminar) that it was high time to
revise the standard SFL approach to tense, as put forth in Michael’s An Intro-
duction to Functional Grammar and supported by Christian in a number of
publications. I failed miserably. I delivered my paper with what I thought
was my usual gusto, and I was quite confident that my arguments had made
an impression, but in the discussion afterwards it became abundantly clear
that I was on a different planet, or spoke an entirely different language.
I simply had not made sense to my distinguished audience. Imagine my
humiliation: having spent most of my academic career on paradigmatic rela-
tions, I could not even get through to an audience of systemicists! On the
spot I made a resolve: one day I would make them see the light.
A few years later, after a tedious period with many administrative chores,
I tried again, this time at the ISFC in Lucknow. Michael was there, as always
gracing the conference with his presence, and he listened to my (perhaps
too) carefully studied rhetoric and took plenty of notes while I produced
some really strong arguments against his recursive tense model (I remember
being slightly worried at the keen scratching of his pen against the confer-
ence pad). I even plucked up the courage to suggest that the standard SFL
tense description suffered from one or two disturbingly formalist features
and that the model needed functional tuning. Again I was quite pleased
with my own performance. Surely this time I had managed to raise more
viii English Tense and Aspect
than an occasional eyebrow! However, in the ensuing brief ‘discussion’ time I
again experienced a sense of displacement and utter failure. In the nicest
possible way Michael told me he thought I was wrong and that I must have
misunderstood his tense description. Unfortunately there was no time to go
into details, and I didn’t get a chance to respond to his very general remarks.
Time was up and no one else was invited by the chair to comment on my
paper or ask questions. Afterwards Michael and I had lunch together, shar-
ing some fond memories and talking pleasantly about other things. In my
misery, caused equally by the disappearance of my suitcase en route to India
and my only too obvious lack of academic success at the conference, I was
approached by Robin Fawcett, who always has a keen eye for dissidents. He
suggested a new strategy: why didn’t I work a bit on those arguments of mine
and write a small book on the subject for his new Equinox series Discussions
in Functional Approaches to Language? Well, to cut a long story short: here
itis!
So this book is my third and most thorough attempt to reach out to the
SFL community at large with my suggestions for a functional tuning of the
SFL description of English tense and aspect. The enterprise would not have
been possible without Michael’s and Christian’s remarkable achievements
over the last decades. I remain for ever grateful to them, not only for our
friendship, but for everything they have done for functional linguistics, and
not least for providing a tense description worth improving. I am grateful
also to Robin for inviting me to contribute to the series and for introducing
me to the wonders of Cardiff School grammar. My sincere thanks also to
Janet Joyce from Equinox Publishing, Chris Butler, who is the co-editor of
the series, and my two anonymous referees for relevant criticism of the manu-
script and for useful suggestions.
A number of friends and colleagues have been extremely helpful at vari-
ous stages in the preparation of the manuscript, either by reading draft
chapters or by discussing central issues with me, or both: Thomas Hestbæk
Andersen, Steven Breunig, Niels Davidsen-Nielsen, Peter Harder, Kim
Ebensgaard Jensen, Fritz Larsen, Steffen Nordahl Lund, Cindie Aaen
Maagaard, Uwe Helm Petersen, Sonja Poulsen, Flemming Smedegaard, as
well as numerous members of the national grammar network in Denmark. I
owe a special debt of gratitude to Nina Nørgaard, who has offered detailed
comments on several versions of the manuscript. They all deserve credit for
any merit my book may have while I naturally remain responsible for any
weaknesses.
Thanks are also due to the University of Southern Denmark and the
Institute of Language and Communication for letting me carry out the
Introduction ix
major part of my project on English tense and aspect in systemic functional
grammar. Although dark clouds are gathering on the horizon, my university
has not yet given in completely to the commercialisation of research and
thefierce restrictions on academic freedom introduced by the Danish
government.
I am much indebted to Philip and Janet Bell, Phil Staines and Penny
Rosier, Jim Martin and Sue Hood, Peter Collins, and Chihiro Kinoshita
Thomsen, for making my research visit to Sydney in 2006 both beneficial and
pleasurable. I also wish to thank the University of New South Wales, espe-
cially the School of Modern Language Studies and the Linguistics Depart-
ment, for providing me with the opportunity to carry out my research in
Sydney as a visiting professor. I am particularly grateful to the Carlsberg
Foundation for generously supporting this phase of the project.
I have sorely missed the feedback I would have received from my parents
if they had been alive. This is my first book without their loving support.
Finally I wish to thank my wonderful wife Hanne and our family for
always being there for me and for helping me create a perfect balance be-
tween work and other pleasures. What would life be like without our two
grandsons Adrian and Villads! This book is dedicated to them.
Carl Bache