Friday 9 May 2014

The Three Semohistories Related

Halliday & Matthiessen (1999: 18):

semogenic processes:

‘provides environment for’     ð
phylogenetic
(evolution of the system
in the species)
ontogenetic
(development of the system
in the individual)
logogenetic
(instantiation of the system
in the text)
ï     ‘provides material for’

As the [leftward] pointing arrow suggests, the individual’s (transfinite) meaning potential is constructed out of (finite) instances of text; the (transfinite) meaning potential of the species is constructed out of (finite) instances of individual ‘meaners’.  Following the [rightward] arrow, the system of the language (the meaning potential of the species) provides the environment in which the individual’s meaning emerges; the meaning potential of the individual provides the environment within which the meaning of the text emerges.