In this chapter, we take paradigmatic reasoning as point of departure and describe axial relations for interpersonal clause systems in Brazilian Portuguese. We reason axially about MOOD types first in relation to discourse-semantic systems and then by agnating clause structures. Our description is text-based and privileges the view from above as it investigates how exchanges are enacted in language through the discourse-semantic systems of NEGOTIATION, SPEECH FUNCTION and ENGAGEMENT – which in turn are realised by MOOD and ASSESSMENT in the grammar. A corpus based on a range of text types forms the basis of the study. The core of interpersonal grammar comprises the functions of Predicator, Finite and Subject realising MOOD – responsible for dialogic interaction and negotiation. Positioner is the function realising ASSESSMENT – the grammatical system responsible for assessing the roles of speaker and listener, thus managing their voices in the negotiation of moves.

This chapter provides a description of the basic interpersonal clause system in Khorchin Mongolian – i.e., MOOD. The categories in the traditional description of Khorchin Mongolian clause grammar are mostly defined notionally and are not grammatically motivated. In contrast, the description in this chapter motivates the clause classes in the MOOD system in terms of their structural configurations based on unmonitored conversational data. The functions of Predicator, Positioner, Interrogator and Inquirer are used to distinguish the general types of [indicative] and [imperative] and the more delicate systems they make available. The MOOD systems are then characterised in relation to their functions in exchanges in terms of the structural configurations that realise options in NEGOTIATION in discourse semantics. The description in this chapter makes significant contributions to (i) the unified description of Khorchin Mongolian clause types and structures, and (ii) the characterisation of grammatical patterns in terms of discourse semantics.

This chapter adds to the growing literature on the interpersonal metafunction by describing and analysing British Sign Language (BSL) from a systemic functional perspective. Whereas other chapters in this volume use the spoken and written modalities to communicate meaning, BSL operates principally in the visual-spatial modality. Nonetheless, various parallels can be drawn with other languages that have been described and analysed in SFL terms. This chapter provides a brief overview of the basics of BSL expression, focusing on the hands, upper body and space in front of a signer to give non-signing readers an insight into the basics of signed communication. Through discussions on the distinction between the planes of expression and content in BSL – and the associated difficulties when attempting to identify the distribution of semiotic labour between these planes – the interpersonal systems of MOOD, POLARITY and MODALITY are exemplified via lexicogrammatical analyses of two dialogic BSL interactions, including argumentation for a Predicator function in BSL. A full interpersonal analysis of the interactions is also presented, alongside proposals of future studies within the interpersonal metafunction and broader, more applied concerns.

This chapter develops a carefully reasoned analysis of Spanish resources enacting the negotiability of propositions and proposals. Following a review of the ways in which English and French structure the negotiability of moves in conversation, the chapter turns to Spanish – demonstrating that it is the Predicator function, realised by verbal group resources, that manages the negotiability of the clause (with respect to those resources ‘most at risk’ in the exchange). The chapter shows that functions such as Subject or Finite have no place in the interpersonal grammar of a Spanish clause and closes with an overview of basic negotiatory structures in Romance languages, from the perspective of functional language typology.

In this paper we extend work on the interpersonal grammar of Tagalog by focusing on ASSESSMENT resources realised through non-pronominal clitics. From a discourse semantic perspective (Martin & Rose, 2007; Martin & White, 2005), ASSESSMENT is centrally involved in the enactment of ENGAGEMENT, as interlocutors negotiate consensus around propositions and proposals, and the attitudes they inscribe or invoke. The meaning of each assessment clitic is characterised as the basis for the formalisation of this resource in system networks. In addition, the role of assessment clitics in discourse is illustrated through move-by-move analysis of two main texts. The paper concludes with some discussion of SFL’s hierarchy of realisation as far as the description of Tagalog ASSESSMENT resources are concerned.

This chapter is a text-based study of the enactment of interpersonal meaning in Mandarin, with particular focus on the MOOD system and structure, part of interpersonal grammar that is involved in the realisation of the discourse-semantic system of NEGOTIATION. The data considered is taken from the genres of criminal case courtroom discourse, realised interpersonally by a tenor of unequal social status and lack of reciprocity of linguistic choices among the speakers. The study adopts an axis-oriented trinocular perspective, foregrounding paradigmatic relations as the fundamental principle of linguistic organisation and reasoning about system-structure relations from above, round about and below. The analysis shows that MOOD in Mandarin is not only responsible for negotiating knowledge and action exchanges between moves in dialogue, but also closely interacts with MODALITY and POLARITY systems that are associated with the subsystem ENGAGEMENT of the discourse semantic system APPRAISAL. Therefore a complementary description of Mandarin MOOD is presented with a perspective oriented toward both NEGOTIATION and ENGAGEMENT.

In this chapter I use a text-based approach to grammatical description in order to explore the interpersonal grammar of Scottish Gaelic. I analyse extracts from two Scottish Gaelic novels from the perspectives of the semantic systems of NEGOTIATION and ENGAGEMENT and correlate distinctions in these systems with function structures at the lexicogrammatical stratum. By these means I build up a partial systems network for MOOD in Gaelic profile, with choices and distinctive features represented in the most economical way and labelled according to their distinctive usages in discourse. On the basis of this analysis, I will suggest that Scottish Gaelic does not have a [declarative] versus [interrogative] opposition in MOOD, redounding with the system of NEGOTIATION at the semantic stratum, but rather an [assertive] versus [non-assertive] opposition, redounding with the system of ENGAGEMENT at the semantic stratum.

In this chapter the editors introduce the theoretical and methodological orientation of the book. They begin with an overview of systemic functional linguistics (SFL), introducing its model of language and two descriptions of special relevance to this volume. The chapter then moves onto key theoretical dimensions – axis (system-and-structure relations), rank, metafunction and stratification. A particular concern of this book is the way in which interpersonal grammatical systems realise the discourse-semantic systems of NEGOTIATION and APPRAISAL. Accordingly, the authors present an outline of NEGOTIATION and APPRAISAL resources relevant to the interpretation of chapters in this volume. At the end of this section of the chapter, the editors introduce the understandings underpinning the model of context proposed by Martin (1992) for interpreting patterns of language use. Next, the chapter reviews the methodological implications of SFL’s theoretical dimensions with respect to text-based data compilation, approaching grammar from above, axial reasoning and functional language typology. The goal here is to establish the common ground on which functional descriptions informed by SFL can be constructed. Finally, each chapter is introduced, highlighting its distinctive contributions to our understanding of interpersonal grammar.

Thischapter defines the book’s object of study and explains its significance in linguistics and philosophy. It then discusses the book’s theoretical framework, its intended readership, and its topical emphasis, and it summarizes the book’s remaining chapters. In a nutshell, the book is about the semantics of propositional attitude reports: sentences centered around clause-embedding psychological verbs like Beatrix thinks it’s raining or Beatrix wants it to rain. Such sentences bear on foundational issues in the philosophy of language concerning the nature of sentence meaning and proper names. They also interact in intricate ways with many semantically relevant grammatical phenomena of interest to linguists specializing in semantics. This book surveys the key data, concepts, and theories concerning the compositional interpretation of attitude reports, assuming a model of grammar that includes a generative syntactic component that assembles structures and an interpretive semantic component that assigns truth conditions to those structures. The book is meant for students and researchers of linguistics who have had at least one or two graduate-level courses in formal semantics.

In this chapter, we move beyond belief reports to consider the semantics of desire reports (like Beatrix wants it to rain), which bring forth new puzzles that have inspired a literature of their own, and that implicate attitude reports in a wide variety of semantically relevant grammatical phenomena such as mood, modality, gradability, focus, and presupposition projection. We give central attention to the competing approaches to desire reports set forth in influential work by Irene Heim and by Kai von Fintel, and we discuss the various issues with these approaches that have inspired refinements and alternatives. We close by scaling out even further to consider broad points of similarity and divergence among different kinds of attitude reports, beyond belief and desire.