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Article published In:
Language, Context and Text
Vol. 4:2 (2022) ► pp.259–303

Semogenic variation in the construal of sayerhood in Arabic

ORCID logo | Macquarie University

This article studies projection and examines alternative modes of construing processes of saying/ speech events and the variation across three registers where projection is particularly important. It is one of many articles that describe and discuss projection as a semantic fractal manifested in a variety of lexicogrammatical environments. The first paper in this series, which was published in 2018 by Arús-Hita et al. in Word was an investigation of quoting and reporting strategies of speech and thought across six genetically unrelated languages (Arabic, Dagaare, English, Hindi, Japanese and Spanish). This paper, however, has a much narrower scope. It first looks at all participants in the verbal clause in Arabic, then it focuses on the main one – the Sayer. Since verbal projection is quite pervasive in different areas of the lexicogrammar, it only makes sense to look into these fractal motifs to have an idea about the different guises under which the Sayer appears. News reports, academic discourse and fictional narratives have been analysed to properly account for the registerial variety in construing the role of the Sayer in verbal clauses across metafunctions.

Keywords: projection, Sayer, interpersonal, experiential, logical, comments of presumption, fractal motif, semantic fractal, congruent manifestation, evidentiality, systemic functional linguistics
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background: Halliday’s notion of projection vs. traditional complement clauses
  • 3.Participants in the verbal clause
    • 3.1The Receiver
    • 3.2The Target
    • 3.3Verbiage and other verbal projections
    • 3.4The Sayer
      • 3.4.1Generic characteristics of the Sayer in Arabic
      • 3.4.2Sayerhood in Arabic across metafunctions
        • 3.4.2.1Experiential manifestation
          • 3.4.2.1.1Relational clauses construing verbal activities
          • 3.4.2.1.2Existential clauses construing verbal activities
          • 3.4.2.1.3Material processes construing verbal activities
          • 3.4.2.1.4Mental processes construing of verbal activities
          • 3.4.2.1.5Behavioral processes construing verbal activities
          • 3.4.2.1.6Circumstance of angle construing ‘sayerhood’
        • 3.4.2.2Interpersonal manifestation of sayerhood in Arabic
  • 4.Variations in the construal of Sayerhood across registers
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 29 September 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/langct.21014.bar
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