Sunday 12 October 2014

Figures Are Configurations Of Elemental Phenomena

Halliday & Matthiessen (1999: 128):
Compositionally, figures are phenomenal units that are formed by configurations of other phenomena (elements). Being “units” means that they are constituted as organic wholes with functionally distinct parts.  In this respect they differ from sequences, which are not compositional units but loci of serial expansion and projection.