Predication: short notes on a (meta)functional view

In these notes I set out quite briefly an interpretation of ‘predication‘ within the perspective offered by functional linguistics and, more particularly, within the framework known as systemic-functional, or socio-semiotic, linguistics (cf. Halliday, 1978, 1994). I will argue that the phenomena that have come to be grouped under the term predication can be given a reasonably concise and systematic description, but only when certain terminological and conceptual confusions and simplifications have been cleared out of the way. The account of predication offered will seek to describe the most commonly discussed kinds of ‘predication’ found in the literature. It will do so in terms of combinations of particular functionally motivated grammatical constituents within the linguistic stratum of grammar and their use as strategies for the expression of particular semantic configurations within the stratum of semantics. I will point out along the way some of the similarities and differences with other accounts, trying to make clear what a functional perspective brings to the discussion. Predication has been a source of linguistic debate for a considerable period and, unfortunately, the predominant approach in modern times (i.e., over the last 50 years or so) appears to simplify beyond the point of reasonable simplification. This can have two kinds of consequence: first, presentation of predication can end up as lists of construction groupings which do little to bring out the regularities involved; and secondly (sometimes combined with the first), studies of predication can draw on more or less sophisticated notions of syntactic structure which are inherently unsuited for pulling apart the multifunctional nature of the kinds of phenomena investigated. This is, in part, to echo Napoli’s (1989) arguments against a purely configurational (in her case mostly X-bar) based approach to the phenomena of predication; as she begins: “I will argue ... below against any analysis of predication in terms of VP (verb phrase) versus the syntactic subject” (1989:9). In these notes, I will further augment her more semantic directions of analysis with detailed functional categories in order to provide a more differentiating view within the grammatical stratum also. Finally, although the examples used throughout the paper are drawn from English, I will also point out along the way the many places where the proposals have a natural wider application.