Wednesday 29 January 2020

Paratactic Group And Phrase Complexes


Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 560):
When groups and phrases are linked paratactically, they are given equal status; any of the members of the complex could, in principle, serve the same function as the whole complex. Thus alongside In the mid-’80s, Apple introduced the LaserWriter – the first PostScript laser printer, we could also have ... introduced the LaserWriter or ... introduced the first PostScript laser printer
Groups and phrases can be linked paratactically by apposition and by coordination. As with paratactic clauses the former are elaborating in function, the latter extending. Instances of the enhancing type are less common, since the meanings are too specific to be readily expressed as a relationship between units smaller than clauses; but they do occur. 
There are no paratactic group/phrase complexes linked by projection, except for nominal group complexes such as the examiner’s assessment, ‘a brilliant work’, seems hard to justify, which lie on the borderline of elaborating parataxis.