A multi-stratal perspective on circumstantial meaning

ABSTRACT

This paper provides a “broader” understanding of what is previously known from a grammatical perspective as “circumstantial meaning” or circumstantiation. This “broader” perspective takes into account more abstract meanings beyond grammar, considering both field (at the register stratum) and discourse semantics, in addition to lexicogrammar. The paper shows how the lexicogrammar alone is not able to adequately account for the meaning potential of “circumstantial meaning”, and how by examining this region of meaning from three strata, a fuller account of circumstantial meaning is made possible. A richer account of circumstantial meaning is necessary because, while circumstances may be considered structurally peripheral, earlier explorations of circumstantial meaning show that this area of meaning often makes important contributions to the register of any given text and to the building of disciplinary knowledge. This exploration is demonstrated through two texts: a student’s high scoring piece of creative writing from the subject of English in the final year of schooling and a synopsis of a history book on the Chinese fishing industry in colonial Australia. These texts reveal the significantly different ways in which circumstantial meanings are used in different subject areas – i.e., to contribute to setting up an “ambience” in literary texts and to developing knowledge in history.

KEYWORDS:

• Circumstantial meaning
• register stratum
• discourse semantics
• lexicogrammar; systemic functional linguistics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Following SFL convention, this paper uses initial capitals to indicate functional units – i.e., Process, Participants, and Circumstances are functional units in a clause; and small caps are used to indicate names of systems – e.g., transitivity, ideation, appraisal.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shoshana Dreyfus

Shoshana Dreyfus  is Senior Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics at the University of Wollongong, Australia. She specialises in SFL, discourse analysis and ‘Sydney School’ Genre Pedagogy, with a focus on academic literacy, language disorder, circumstantial meaning, evaluative language and other sorts of meaning making.

Jing Hao

Dr Jing Hao is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher Fellow at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, following her previous postdoctoral position fellowship at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and her doctorate in Linguistics at the University of Sydney. Her research explores knowledge building through English and Mandarin Chinese and their its interaction with other semiotic modes.