Reconsideration of the Taxis between Clauses within the Framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics

In the field of Systemic Functional Linguistics, current researches of the taxis between clauses have been mainly based on the Sydney Model. It is argued in this paper that due to the contradictions between the doctrines of the strong rank scale hypothesis assumed by the Sydney Model, the classifications of the clause types are problematic. By comparison, the weak rank scale hypothesis proposed in the Cardiff Model is more reasonable and the descriptions of the clause types are more systematic and comprehensive. As to the overall tactic relations of language, this paper agrees with the Cardiff Model that there are two types – embedding and paratactic. Furthermore, it is demonstrated in this paper that due to the restraints of semantic configuration roles, finiteness, and logic-semantic relations, all the embedded clauses form a continuum with those characterized by the stronger embedding power and those characterized by the weaker power as two poles. Meanwhile, all the coordinate clauses form a similar continuum with those featured by the closer logic-semantic relation and those featured by the looser relation as two poles.