Saturday, 17 June 2017

Projection As Enhancement And The Neutralisation Of Relational Mode

α
x β  manner: comparison
that
's
mine
as
the devil
said
of the dead policeman
Carrier
Process
Attribute

Sayer
Process
Matter
Token
Value

In this (abridged) clause complex from Ulysses, a quote, which is congruently realised as a clause in a paratactic nexus of projection is realised instead as the dominant clause of a hypotactic nexus of enhancement; and the figure that would congruently be realised as the projecting clause is here realised instead as the dependent clause of the nexus.  By this use of ideational metaphor, Joyce construes both meanings at once, the projection and the comparison.

With regard to the double coding of the relational clause, Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 295) point out that, for this type of possessive clause, in operative voice, the attributive and identifying modes are not syntagmatically distinct.  The clause could be either attributive: the dead policeman is a member of the class of the devil's possessions, or identifying: the dead policeman is identified as belonging to the devil.