Systemic Functional Grammar: Circumstantial Adjuncts (Experiential Metafunction)

Status
Not open for further replies.

ChrissyToph

New member
Joined
Apr 1, 2013
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
Great Britain
Current Location
Great Britain
Hi there,

I've been learning about Halliday's SFG and there's one thing I can't seem to work out in relation to circumstances in experiential metafunction. If you have a circumstantial adjunct which is describing a person's age or where they come from, how would you sub-categorise the circumstance it is? For instance:

British-born Robert has always wanted to visit the Carribean.
A man from Russia has been arrested.
A girl of two has been abandoned by her parents.
A sixteen-year-old teenager has won the National Skating Championships.

So for the bits in bold, how would I treat them in terms of experiential metafunction? Do I consider them a Circumstance of time and place? Or do I just treat them as part of the participant (whether actor, senser, or whatever) and not separate them? 'Cause I find it difficult to treat them as a circumstance of time/place as it feels like I'm saying something about the participants/person, as opposed to saying when or where something happened...

Thanks for any responses,
Chrissy
 

mickod

New member
Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Spain
Chrissie,

Circumstances belong to the clause (or the verb) not to a noun. All the
parts you have put in bold are nominal modifiers, so they are not circumstances,
nor Adjuncts. The experiential structure of the nominal group is basically:

Deictic Quantifier Epithet Classifier Thing Qualifier

...and your examples:

british-born: Epithet or Classifier
from Russia: Qualifier
of two: Qualifier
sixteen-year-old: Epithet

Mick


Hi there,

I've been learning about Halliday's SFG and there's one thing I can't seem to work out in relation to circumstances in experiential metafunction. If you have a circumstantial adjunct which is describing a person's age or where they come from, how would you sub-categorise the circumstance it is? For instance:

British-born Robert has always wanted to visit the Carribean.
A man from Russia has been arrested.
A girl of two has been abandoned by her parents.
A sixteen-year-old teenager has won the National Skating Championships.

So for the bits in bold, how would I treat them in terms of experiential metafunction? Do I consider them a Circumstance of time and place? Or do I just treat them as part of the participant (whether actor, senser, or whatever) and not separate them? 'Cause I find it difficult to treat them as a circumstance of time/place as it feels like I'm saying something about the participants/person, as opposed to saying when or where something happened...

Thanks for any responses,
Chrissy
 

ChrissyToph

New member
Joined
Apr 1, 2013
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
Great Britain
Current Location
Great Britain
Ah I see, thanks Mick!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top