Degree Of Participanthood: Degree Of Individuation

 Halliday & Matthiessen (1999: 167):

(i) Prepare the sauce according to your favourite recipe 

(ii) Fry the aubergines for 5-10 minutes

Skin the tomatoes

Heat the ollve oil

Boil the eggs hard

Beat all the items together

Shape the lentil puree into cakes

There is a further contrast between Goal and Range in the degree of individuation that is typical of each. In the examples above, what is impacted is a specific representative of a class, or specific set of representatives; and this is typical of the degree of individuation of the Goal. Compare in this respect the contrast between move the piano, where the piano is Goal, and play the piano, where the piano is Range:

move the piano Process + Goal: specific representative of class

play the piano Process + Range: general class of instrument

Blogger Comments:

This assumes that the reference item the in play the piano is homophoric, but importantly, it can also be exophoric to the environment of the text, or endophoric to the text itself. In both these latter cases, the piano may be a specific representative of the class, like a Goal.