Problems With The Authors' Reconceptualisation Of Field, Tenor And Mode In Terms Of Instantiation

Doran, Martin & Herrington (2024: 213):

Reconsidering the variation between more technical and more everyday discourse – often positioned within field – we have presented the variable of mass. Mass offers a means of conceptualising how much ‘meaning’ is presented in a particular instance (influenced by Maton’s [2014] conception of semantic density), whether that be ideational, interpersonal, and textual, and the differing language resources used to present this variation in the strength of meaning. 

Reconsidering the social relations of contact and status – what has often been positioned within tenor – we have presented association. Association presents cross-metafunctional principles for organising the reciprocity of choice or lack thereof that marks similarities or differences in status, and the contraction and proliferation that mark differing levels of social contact. 

And reconsidering variation in ‘abstraction’ or ‘concreteness’ – often positioned within mode – we have presented the principle of presence. Presence presents a cross-metafunctional understanding of context-dependence (influenced by Maton’s [2014] semantic gravity). This considers the degree to which texts iconically match what it is talking about (ideational iconicity), the degree to which texts engage with the audience as it goes (interpersonal negotiability), and the degree to which texts relate out to the situation they are in (textual implicitness).

 Reviewer Comments:

[1] As previously explained:

• 'mass' is the meaning of language misunderstood as the contextual parameter of field;
• 'technicality' is the ideational meaning of language misunderstood as the contextual parameter of field;
• 'iconisation' is the interpersonal meaning of language misunderstood as the contextual parameter of field; and
• 'aggregation' is the textual meaning of language misunderstood as the contextual parameter of field.

[2] As previously explained:

• 'association' is the meaning of language misunderstood as the contextual parameter of tenor;
• 'participation' is the contextual parameter of field confused with the ideational meaning of language misunderstood as the contextual parameter of tenor;
• 'accord' is the interpersonal meaning of language misunderstood as the contextual parameter of tenor; and
• 'coordination' is the textual meaning of language misunderstood as the contextual parameter of tenor.

[3] As previously explained:

• 'presence' is the meaning of language misunderstood as the contextual parameter of mode;
• 'iconicity' is the ideational meaning (metaphor) of language misunderstood as the contextual parameter of mode;
• 'negotiability' is the interpersonal meaning (speech function) of language misunderstood as the contextual parameter of mode; and
• 'implicitness' is the textual meaning (exophoric demonstrative reference) of language misunderstood as the contextual parameter of mode.