Re-describing The Finite System In The English Clause From The Systemic Functional Perspective

Finite,as a grammatical concept,can be traced back to the Late Antiquity.What caught Grammarians' attention at first was the morphological features of Finite,therefore Finite should be subsumed into “the covert category” defined by Whorf.But it has long been contentions whether Finite is an “overt category”,and it is even more so whether or not Finite exists in such non-morphological languages as Chinese.The main reason why the disputes cannot be dissolved is the lack of a linguistic theory with general explanatory power.Since Systemic Functional Linguistics(SFL henceforth)is “functional and semantic rather than formal or syntactic in nature”,it can examine Finite in a systemic and functional framework and therefore provide a sound theoretical foundation for a general description of Finite on a cross-linguistic basis.A systemic functional typological study on Finite as an overt category in the morphological language is needed if we mean to provide a cross-linguistic frame of reference and comparison for the examination of Finite as a covert category in such non-morphological languages as Chinese.At present,Finite as the over category that is fully described by SFL is that of English,which obviously lays a solid foundation for a cross-linguistic study of Finite.However,a close examination reveals that there are still some doubts and questions persisting on the description of the system of the English Finite by SFL.This will undoubtedly prevent us from fully recognizing the metafuctions and the grammatical system of Finite,and therefore defy us to make a functional typological study of Finite.The doubts and questions fall into two aspects:(1)those about Finite system proper,and(2)those about the categorical relationship between Finite and the polar.In the view of the first aspect,the questions include:(i)Primary Tense/Modality system is defined against its distinction of Finite;(ii)the subjectivity of modality is inconsistently described;(iii)the fusion of Finite with the Predicator is neglected in SFL's Finite system,and the status of lexical verb be/have is discrepantly defined;(iv)Finite in the irrealis clauses is not adequately covered;(v)Huddleston's(1988b)query of “Subject responsible for the proposition” is not satisfactorily answered;(vi)Finite in the imperative clause is vaguely defined;(vii)there is a lack of more delicate definition of Finite of the contrastive do clause;(viii)the “clues” of the tactic position of the clause in the clause complex need further exploration.These questions are undoubtedly unfavorable to the overall comprehensive cognition of Finite and remains an obstacle to the functional typological study of Finite.According to SFL,the definition criterion of a category in a stratum lies in the stratum above it.Therefore,the problems found in the description of the English Finite by SFL are expected to be solved by re-investigating the metafunctions in the stratum of semantics.This is the what the present study means to do: On the basis of the problems we found in SFL's description of the English clausal Finite,we are determined to rewrite the English Finite system by making a thorough inquiry into the metafuntions and the grammatical nature of Finite based on the theory of SFL and adequate corpus.Therefore,the present study focuses on the exploration of the major questions which are caused by minor ones.These minor questions are the ones we found concerning the current description of the Finite system by SFL,which manifests that its description of the clausal finite system is incomplete.The solution to the questions of Finite system should be found by seeking out what metafunctions Finite can construe.In view of this,the present study concentrates on three major questions:(1)What is the metafuntional panorama of Finite in English? i.e.does Finite have other potentials in metafunctions besides the interpersonal category presently defined by SFL?(2)What is the relationship between Finite and the polarity? i.e.is the polarity of Finite exactly the polarity of the clause?(3)How do we re-describe the Finite system?Where the first question is concerned,we have the following findings:(1)INTERPERSONALLY,Finite also builds speaker's subjectivity.(2)EXPERIENTIALLY,Finite construes the degree of participanthood of the Subject Participant by means of construing its own involvement degree in the actualization of the process.(3)LOGICALLY,Finite construes the logical meaning in both INTERDEPENDENCY and LOGICAL-SEMANTIC REATION.Interacting with the conjunction,Finite has the potential of construing the tactic position of the clause in the clause complex.Besides,choosing Finite means construing a covert Projection,with the Speaker as the “projector”.The Objective Finite construes a covert locational projection,and the Subjective Finite construes a cover mental projection,and the two types of the projection make a cline,with the projected clause realized by the Modal Adjunct in between.4)TEXTUALLY,Finite provides the resources for foregrounding the process with the contrastive do operator.The functions of Finite require higher grammaticalization.Since the choices of the language systems are ordered in accordance with the construing of the meaning,the multi-metafunctional nature of Finite needs a more complex description of Finite system than that done by SFL.Polarity is currently seen as “an essential concomitant of Finite” by SFL and the clausal polarity is categorized by SFL as construing interpersonal metafunction,and therefore the polarity of Finite is subsumed under the metafunction.But in SFL's description of polity's function and system,there exist some questions which cannot be interpreted in its present theoretical frame.These questions include:(i)the categorical relation of modality and polarity is defined in a conflicting way;(ii)there is inconsistency in the description of the ascription of polarity to the Mood element;(iii)categorical mistake can be found in the criterion of the non-finite clausal polarity.(iv)there is a conflicting definition of whether there is “double negativities” in a clause,etc.These questions require a new investigation into the system and function of clausal polarity.In this sense,which mode of meaning Finite polarity construes will be the next focus of this study.The present study finds that(1)the clausal polarity is not determined by the polarity of Finite only,rather,there is more than one element carrying polarity feature than Finite in a clause;(2)there is a feature of gradability of polarity among Finite clause,the non-Finite clause and the imperative clause;(3)the polarities assigned to the elements chosen comprehensively determine the clausal polarity,i.e.the clausal polarity is determined by a polarity configuration in the clause,rather than merely by the polarity of Finite defined by SFL;(4)the polarity configuration takes on a particulate modal;(5)the particulate realization reflects its experiential construing,specifically construing the actualization(the positive)or the non-actualization(the negative)of the micro-process of the clause;(6)the polarity of Finite is chosen in the mode of experiential meaning.The multi-metafuntional nature of Finite found by this study determines a higher grammaticalization.In the stratum of the lexicogrammar,Finite has a higher delicacy scale.In terms of the rank scale,Finite is multi-leveled.As far as is concerned the query of “the Subject responsible for the proposition” raised by Huddleston(1988),it is necessary to distinguish the Interpersonal Subject from the Experiential Subject.On the other hand,the newly-found metafunctions of Finite demands a new description of Finite system.Therefore,the present dissertation makes a re-description of Finite system,based on the clarification of the features in the system and the relationships among the features.Methodologically,the dissertation adopts qualitative analysis,complemented by literature analysis,and the whole argumentation will inevitably involve the “abductive reasoning” which operates from “the explanandum” to “the explananum”.In view of this,the data on which the present research is based are non-closed.The sources are:(1)primarily the corpus webs,including COCA(the Corpus of Contemporary American English),BNC(the British National Corpus)and CCL(the Center for Chinese Linguistics,PKU),and(2)partially the literature data and the introspection data.The contributions of the present research are as follows:(1)To some degree,the re-description of the metafunctions of Finite and its grammatical system can be seen as an endeavor to perfect and develop the theory of SFL;(2)An exhaustive re-description metafunctions of Finite and its grammatical system can provide a comparative and reference mode for the future cross-linguistic study of Finite.