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From explicit to implicit orientation: mapping rank scale to modality in English and Chinese
Functional Linguistics volume 4, Article number: 15 (2017)
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In Systemic Functional Grammar, modality is treated as a semantic domain that extends across more than one grammatical environment. The basic distinction that determines various realizations of modality is modeled as the system of ORIENTATION. This paper aims to compare the explicit/implicit manifestations of modality in English and Chinese, a relatively less discussed issue in previous literature. After introducing the system network of modality in SFG, the paper, based on the rank theory, posits that the explicit/implicit orientation could be mapped clearly onto the choices of three ranks: clause, phrase/group and word. A meaning-oriented criterion is set up as follows: (i) Explicit modality is construed as Figure/Proposition; (ii) Quasi-explicit modality is construed as projecting Circumstance; (iii) Implicit modality is construed as modal Adjunct, part of Process/Predicator or mood element. Provided this criterion, various realizations of modality are examined along the rank scale both in English and Chinese. It is found that the two languages share similar lexicogrammatical strategies in this respect. Some major differences are: (i) Verbal groups (e.g. shuō bú dìng 'say NEG firm') can be used to construe implicit modality in Chinese. This phenomenon is not found in English. (ii) In English, the choice of explicit and implicit modality parallels the choice of subjective and objective modality. In Chinese, however, the choice of subjective and objective modality is available only when explicit modality is opted. A small-scale analysis of how modality is translated in a parallel corpus shows preliminary evidence for the above observations.
Modality has long been an important issue in linguistics (e.g. Lyons 1977; Quirk et al. 1985; Bybee et al. 1994; Palmer 2014). It has also been one of the central concerns in Chinese linguistics (e.g. Tsang 1981; Xu 2000; Peng 2005). And the comparison of modality in English and Chinese is not new (e.g. Li 2004). However, this paper will show that there is still some room for further comparison of modality in the two languages under the framework of Systemic Functional Grammar (hereafter SFG). In SFG, modality is regarded as a semantic domain that extends across varied grammatical units. The basic distinction that determines various realizations of modality is modeled as the system of ORIENTATION (Halliday and Matthiessen 2014: 692) or MANIFESTATION (Matthiessen 1995). Despite emerging attempts to investigate modality in Chinese from the SF perspective (e.g. Zhu 1996; Li 2007; Wei 2008; Yang and Chang 2011), the system of ORIENTATION has not been fully discussed. Therefore, the present study aims to supplement the previous literature by examining whether the system of ORIENTATION could be applied to the description of modality in Chinese. This is what Matthiessen (2015) calls 'transfer comparison' in designing a study of language description. Two questions will be addressed in this study:
How is modality manifested explicitly and implicitly in English and Chinese?
What are the choices in the system network of ORIENTATION of modality in Chinese?
For a more systematic comparison, the hypothesis of rank theory in SFG will be adopted to establish an analytical framework. The structure of the paper is as follows. First, the theoretical background of modality and rank scale in SFG will be reviewed. It is followed by a proposal of meaning-oriented criterion for various explicit/implicit manifestation of modality based on explicit and implicit realizations of modality in English. Then this criterion will be used to examine realizations of modality in Chinese. Next, the subjective and objective variants of modality will be discussed. Finally, the explicit and implicit modality will be investigated based on a small sample data from an English-Chinese parallel corpus. It should be noted in the beginning that because the focus of this study is on the system of ORIENTATION, only probability but not all modality types will be discussed.
Theoretical background
Modality is modeled as a system of choices for construing uncertainty between yes and no in SFG. Halliday and Matthiessen (2014: 182) present the system network in Fig. 1 below:
The system of MODALITY TYPE represents the choice of a proposition or a proposal. The system of ORIENTATION represents the choice of various realizations. The system of VALUE represents the degree of uncertainty. The system of POLARITY represents the choice of yes and no. The current study focuses on ORIENTATION. There are two dimensions in the system of ORIENTATION: subjective/objective variants and explicit/implicit variants. Thompson's (2014: 73) illustration of the subjective/objective variants is most straightforward:
One feature that the different realizations of modality have in common is that they can be graded according to how far the speaker overtly accepts responsibility for the attitude being expressed. Essentially, speakers may express their point of view in a way that makes it clear that this is their subjective point of view; or they may do it in a way that 'objectivizes' the point of view by making it appear to be a quality of the event itself.
The explicit/implicit variants, on the other hand, represent the choice of whether modality is realized as a separate clause or as part of a clause (Thompson 2014: 75; Halliday and Matthiessen 2014:181; Martin et al. 2010: 67–69). Matthiessen (1995: 497) considers it as a system of MANIFESTATION. The four features combine to generate various realizations of modality as shown in Table 1.
The relevance between explicit/implicit modality and rank scale is illustrated through the notion of interpersonal metaphor by Halliday and Matthiessen (2014: 698). Explicit modality is a metaphoric strategy of interpersonal assessment:
The metaphoric strategy is to upgrade the interpersonal assessment from group rank to clause rank – from an adverbial group or prepositional phrase serving within a simple clause to a clause serving within a clause nexus of projection.
Therefore, in explicit modality, we could identify modal assessment realized at the clause rank. Implicit modality, on the other hand, is realized at the group rank. However, it should be noted that the explicit/implicit dimension is a cline in which some realizations lie somewhere in between. In English, prepositional phrases such as in my opinion are used to realize the intermediate explicit/implicit modality. For descriptive convenience, this type of realization will be called "quasi-explicit" modality. Halliday and Matthiessen (2014: 688) explain that a phrase is "a kind of halfway house between clausal and non-clausal status." It could be interpreted more clearly in light of the rank theory.
The rank theory is another basic assumption of SFG. It posits that language is organized by units at different ranks on a scale from highest-ranking to lowest-ranking according to their constituency potential (Matthiessen 1995: 75; Thompson 2014: 21–26). A unit of higher rank consists of units of the rank next below. In English, the rank scale is 'clause - group/phrase – word – morpheme', as exemplified in Table 2 below.
Different from traditional approaches, SFG emphasizes the difference between a phrase and a group. A prepositional phrase differs from a group in the sense that a phrase is a reduction of a clause (or a minor/mini clause) whereas a group is an expansion of a word. In experiential line of meaning, the internal structure of a prepositional phrase can be separated into (minor) Process and Range, as shown below (Table 3):
"The nominal group in a prepositional phrase", as Halliday (1994: 213) suggests, "corresponds in function to one or other of the participants Range, Goal, Attribute, though without any very clear distinction among them." Thus he interprets the nominal group in all cases of prepositional phrases as Range. In the interpersonal line of meaning, the preposition plays the function of Predicator while the nominal group serves as Complement. Therefore, the internal structure of a phrase could be analyzed with the same logic as that of a clause. The structure of a group, on the other hand, displays a 'Modifier ^ Head' pattern. Hence it is more like an expanded word than a reduced clause. From this perspective, a prepositional phrase in my opinion is functionally related to I think. Therefore, it should be regarded as quasi-explicit modality.
Another critical theoretical concept is rankshift, which means units at the higher rank come to serve as if they were units of lower ranks. For example, a clause may be rankshifted to function as a Modifier of a Head in a nominal group as in As a simple illustration, think of an intern [[who examines a patient in the emergency ward of a hospital]] (the rankshifted clause is marked by [[]] while the rankshifted group is marked by []) (see Matthiessen 1995: 99–100). Rankshift is a vital grammatical means for expanding the meaning potential of units at the lower rank. Now with the notion of rank-scale, it becomes clear that various manifestations of modality could be described with reference to various ranks.
Examining explicit/implicit modality along the rank-scale in English
The previous section gives an overview on how explicit/implicit modality is related to the clausal status of a grammatical unit, which in turn is pertinent to how different rank levels are modeled in SFG. This interconnection makes it possible to map the rank-scale on the explicit/implicit cline of modality. However, it is necessary to establish a functional or meaning-oriented criterion for determining whether modality is explicit or implicit so that it could be used to account for both congruent and incongruent realizations of modality. The overall principle is as follows:
Explicit modality is construed as Figure/Proposition.
Quasi-explicit modality is construed as projecting Circumstance (or more specifically, Angle).
Implicit modality is construed as modal Adjunct, part of Process/Predicator or mood element.
Table 4 demonstrates how the rank scale could be mapped onto functional units and the explicit/implicit realizations of modality. Though phrase and group are both considered to be the constituencies of a clause next below, they differ in terms of their resemblance to the structure of a clause (as stated earlier). This is the major feature that separates explicit and implicit variants of modality because only the former pattern could bring out the meaning potential of projecting circumstance (e.g. in my opinion). Moving down the rank scale, modality could be realized by a unit at the group rank and at the word rank. At the group rank, it is often realized by adverbial groups such as very probably. At the word rank, the modal operator should is a finite in the verbal group. The term 'quasi-explicit' is used to describe the modality realized at the phrase rank to highlight the relatedness between a phrase and a clause. The expression in my opinion could be viewed as circumstantiation of the clause I think. It is what Halliday and Matthiessen (2014) call Angle. Angle behaves quite similarly to a projecting clause and is more semantically detached from the main clause compared with other types of circumstance (e.g. manner) (see Chen 2016 for comparison between English and Chinese in this respect). Hence, the general principle is that grammatical units at higher ranks realize more explicit modality than those at lower ranks.
Some cases involving rankshift are worth a few comments. Explicit modality can happen when a clause to be modalized is rankshifted as a nominal group as shown below:
[3.1a] My opinion is [[that they want amnesty here]]. This is just another step towards amnesty (COCA).
[3.1b] What [[I believe]] is that this trial has tremendous ramifications for all of us. (COCA)
In example 3.1a, modality is construed not as part of evaluated clause they want amnesty here, but as a relational clause. In other words, modality is construed as a figure including a participant My opinion and a relational process is. By the same token, in example 3.1b, modality is construed as a figure entailing a participant What I believe, in which a mental clause is rankshifted to serve as if it were a nominal group, and a relational process is.
[3.2] The way [[I see it]], we've got three choices (COCA FIC).
Example 3.2 shows another peculiar case of rankshift. Here, modality is realized by a nominal group The way I see it. However, the whole expression functions as an angle, in which the mental clause is downranked to qualify the nominal group The way. It is a projecting circumstance that is realized by a nominal group rather than the typical prepositional phrase (e.g. in my opinion). Hence, a meaning-oriented criterion as proposed above could better account for such atypical manifestations of modality. Nonetheless, the rank-scale could serve as an analytical framework for an examination on manifestations of modality in other languages like Chinese. It can also be applied to the analysis of how modality is translated, as will be shown below.
Examining explicit/implicit modality along the rank-scale in Chinese
The last section sets forth the corresponding relation between units of various rank levels, functional units, and explicit/implicit manifestations of modality in English. More importantly, a meaning-oriented criterion has been established. Now this approach will be applied to the analysis of modality in Chinese. In other words, various manifestations of modality will be examined along the rank-scale. But first, it is necessary to mention a few relevant typological features of Chinese language.
Chinese and English share the number of units on the rank scale. However, there are at least two differences as pointed out by Halliday and McDonald (2004: 312–314):
First, in Chinese the lowest rank with implications for clause grammar is the group rather than the word. The internal structure of the word is strictly derivational (compounds, word class formatives) rather than inflectional. Grammatical affixes (usually known as particles) can be analysed as part of the structure of either the group (subordination, aspect) or the clause (aspect, mood). This means that the conception of rank scale is a little different from English in that some word classes operate directly in the structure of the clause. Secondly, there is a degree of functional indeterminacy between certain ranks […] this often makes it difficult to distinguish between verbal group and clause, and between verbal group complex and clause complex.
The indeterminacy between certain ranks poses challenges for analyzing the explicit/implicit variants of modality in Chinese. For example, a 'Pedicator ^ Complement' structure like yǒu kěnéng '有可能, have possibility' might be treated as an existential clause (meaning 'have possibility') or a compound word (meaning 'probably') depending on specific grammatical environments.
Another noteworthy feature is that the preposition in Chinese is also known as 'coverb' because it generally originates from verbs and often form the coverbial/coverbal phrase that co-occurs with the main verb in a clause (Li and Thompson 1989: chapter 9). For example:
[4.1] wǒ yào gēn tā shuōhuà.
我 要 跟 他 说话
I want with him talk.
"I want to talk with him."
The verb nature of prepositions in Chinese conforms to Halliday's (1994:213) assumption that preposition is a 'mini-verb' that realizes the experiential function of 'minor process'. It is also referred to as 'prepositive verb' by Halliday (1956). The only class of phrase in Chinese, as Li (2007: 32–34) suggests, is the coverbal phrases in the structure of 'coverb ^ nominal group'. Two types of coverbal phrases are recognized: 1) Circumstantial type – which corresponds roughly to various types of Circumstance in English; and 2) Participant type – which realizes a participant in a figure: Beneficiary in a ditransitive clause, Goal or Actor in a clause with dispositive voice (e.g. bǎ, bèi, gěi and ràng). If Li's assumption is correct, the congruent form of quasi-explicit modality in Chinese should be coverbal phrases.
Now with the two typological features in mind, various realizations of modality in Chinese will be examined along the rank scale below.
Clause rank: Explicit modality
Explicit modality is construed as projecting figures in Chinese. Below are two typical examples:
[4.2a] wǒ rènwéi tā zài jiā.
我 认为 他 在 家
I think he at home.
'I think he is home.'
[4.2b] kělè gèrén gǎnjué nǐ zhè kuǎn xiāngshuǐ bú shìhé nǐ.
可乐, 个人 感觉 你 这 款 香水 不 适合 你
NAME personal feel you this MEA perfume NEG fit you.
'Ke Le, I feel that this perfume does not fit you.'
Similar to English, explicit realization of modality might be complicated by rankshift. For example, a mental clause might be packaged as a nominal group as shown below:
[4.3] wǒde kànfǎ shì [[tā zài jiā]].
我的 看法 是 他 在 家
my opinion be he at home.
'My opinion is that he is home.'
The clause may also be downranked to serve as Qualifier. For example:
[4.4] zhè jiù shì [[ wǒ rènwéi de ]] zuì jiǎndān ér yǒuxiào de bànfǎ.
this just be I think SUB most simple and effective SUB solution.
'I think this is the most simple and effective measure.'
The peculiarity in Chinese is that the downranked mental clause should precede other Qualifiers. We cannot say.
[4.5] * zhè jiù shì zuì jiǎndān ér yǒuxiào de [[wǒ rènwéi de]] bànfǎ.
这 就 是 最 简单 而 有效 地 我 认为 的 办法
this just be most simple and effective SUB I think SUB solution.
The sequence of the qualifiers could be explained as follows: just like the explicit realization of modality, the modalization should be construed, as it were, outside of the modalized nominal group. In other words, the rankshifted mental clause projects the following units in the nominal group. And this logical-semantic relation is reflected in the sequence of qualifiers.
Phrase rank: Quasi-explicit modality
As mentioned above, the only phrase in Chinese is coverbal phrase. Quasi-explicit modality is construed as an angle realized by a coverbal phrase as shown below:
[4.6a] xiànzài, duì wǒ láishuō , zuìxìngfú mòguòyú fēijī chūgùzhàng.
现在 对 我 来说 最幸福 莫过于 飞机 出故障
now to me come-say luckiest no-more-than plane break-down.
'Now, the plane's breakdown is the best thing to me.'
[4.6b] búguò yī xuéshēng láikàn , zhèxiē dōu shì xìjié.
不过 依 学生 看来 这些 都 是 细节
but acc. Student(myself) come-see these all be detail.
'But in my opinion, these are all details.'
The common pattern is that the coverb combines with a verbal group to formulate a coverbal complex (the circumposition in the sense of Greenberg 1995; Liu 2002; Cai 2013). In example 4.6a, the coverbal complex is duì … láishuō. In example 4.6b, the complex is yī…láikàn. Another pattern is that a mental clause serves as Complement as in yī wǒ kàn, in which wǒ kàn is a mental clause.
Notably, in Chinese, the whole coverbal phrase could be put after the conditional connectives such as rú, rúguǒ, ruò or yào 'if'. For example:
[4.7a] rú yī wǒde yìsī , bùrú yòng liángshuǐ bǎ tā guànxǐng.
如 依 我的 意思 不如 用 凉水 把 他 灌醒
if acc. my way why-not use cold-water PAR he pour-wake.
'If you ask me, why not pour her awake with cold water.'
[4.7b] rú yī wǒ kàn , juéduì shì yǒu fēi dí.
如 依 我 看 绝对 是 友 非 敌
if acc. I see absolutely be friend not enemy.
'If you ask me, it is definitely a friend not an enemy.'
It could be argued that the coverb yī in the data above is used as a verb. However, the Subject of the verb yī would never occur in this structure. For example, we cannot say rú nǐ yī wǒ kàn 'If you acc. I see'. It means that the conditional clause is used specifically for introducing the speaker's own advice. In this case, it could be treated as explicit or quasi-explicit modality.
Group rank: Implicit modality
In Chinese, implicit modality is construed as a modal adjunct. It could be realized by an adverbial group in which a modal adverb serves as Head. The typical items are kěnéng '可能 probably' and yěxǔ '也许 perhaps'.
It should be noted in particular that in Chinese, a clause can be downranked to become a word (somewhat similar to lexicalization). First consider the case of yǒu kěnéng '有可能 have possibility'. It could be analyzed as an existential clause where yǒu 'have' is the existential process and kěnéng 'possibility' is the existent. See the examples below:
[4.8a] tā kěnéng zài jiā.
他 可能 在 家
he probably at home.
'He is probably home.'
[4.8b]tā yǒu kěnéng zài jiā.
他 有 可能 在 家
he have possibility at home.
'He is probably home.'
[4.8c] tā hěn yǒu kěnéng zài jiā.
他 很 有可能 在 家
He very have possibility at home.
'He is very probably home.'
[4.8d] tā yǒu diǎn kěnéng zài jiā.
他 有 点 可能 在 家
He have little possibility at home.
'There is a little probability that he is home.'
The existential clause yǒu kěnéng is all downranked to serve as a word in 4.8b to 4.8d. Actually, it could be argued that yǒu kěnéng is a fully lexicalized word. The grammatical feature of yǒu kěnéng is comparable to that of yǒu yòng 'have use', which is a typical adjective meaning 'useful'. They can both be modified by hěn 'very' as in hěn yǒu kěnéng 'very probably' and hěn yǒu yòng 'very useful'. They can be both modified by diǎn 'little' in the middle as in yǒu diǎn kěnéng 'a little probability' and yǒu diǎn yòng 'a little useful'. Therefore, it is not necessary to treat yǒu kěnéng as a rankshifted existential clause. But rather, it is a word that serves as Head of the adverbial group which realizes modal Adjunct in the examples above. In example 4.8b, there is no Modifier. In example 4.8c, the Modifier is hěn 'very'. In example 4.8d, the Modifier is diǎn 'little'. Therefore, yǒu kěnéng is an adverbial group that functions as modal Adjunct in the examples above.
Further evidence to treat yǒu kěnéng as modal Adjunct is shown in example 4.9 below:
[4.9] tā yěxǔ yǒu kěnéng zài jiā.
他 也许 有 可能 在 家
he perhaps have possibility at home.
'He may probably be home.'
Two modal adjuncts yěxǔ 'perhaps' and yǒu kěnéng 'probably' are put together to form a complex. It indicates that the two units are of the same kind. Therefore, yǒu kěnéng is considered as realizing implicit modality when it occurs in a clause.
In Chinese, some mental verbs can be used to construe modal Adjunct such as kǒngpà '恐怕fear'. For example:
[4.10] tā kǒngpà bú zài jiā.
他 恐怕 不 在 家
he probably(afraid) NEG at home.
'He is probably not home.'
More interestingly, some verbal groups are composed of, typically, a projecting verb and a postverb (e.g. shuō bú dìng '说不定say NEG firm'). This structure is more often considered as completive verb compounds in traditional grammar (e.g. Thompson 1973). McDonald (1996), from the perspective of rank-scale in SFG, regards this structure as a verbal group. His general argument is that the complement in a verb compound should be functionally viewed as Extension of the verb that expresses phasal meanings. Thus a verb compound simultaneously works at the clause rank as Process and at the verbal group rank as a verb plus a postverb. It can be better illustrated with a simple clause in Table 5 below:
Extension here is used as a functional label representing combinations of semantic choices in the system of PHASE. According to McDonald, the system of PHASE, in contrast with the system of ASPECT, concentrates more specifically on the Process. It "identifies separate stages of progression of the action." Therefore, in Chinese, we have compounds like xiǎngqǐlái '想起来come up with an idea', zǒuxiàqù '走下去continue to walk', zuòwán '做完be finished', etc. McDonald argues that the system of PHASE in Chinese should include three basic choices of meaning: directional, resultative as well as non-literal directional as shown in Fig. 2 below:
Under this framework, the verbal group shuō bú dìng could be analyzed as 'verb ^ postverb' structure. The postverb bú dìng denotes the mental state of uncertainty. Consider the data below:
[4.11a] wǒmén shuō bú dìng shěnme shíhòu jiù yào líkāi.
我们 说 不 定 什么 时候 就 要 离开
we say NEG firm what time just should leave(BCC Literary).
'We are not sure when we should leave.'
[4.11b]? wǒmén shěnme shíhòu jiù yào líkāi.
我们 什么 时候 就 要 离开
we what time just should leave.
'When should we leave?'
[4.11c] yǐhòu wǒmén shuō bú dìng huì chéngwéi péngyǒu.
以后 我们 说 不 定 会 变成 朋友 (BCC Literary)
later we say NEG firm will become friend.
'We will probably become friends in the future.'
[4.11d] yǐhòu wǒmén huì chéngwéi péngyǒu.
以后 我们 会 变成 朋友
'We will become friends in the future.'
In example 4.11a, the verbal group shuō bú dìng roughly means 'don't know' or 'cannot decide'. It cannot be reduced because it is still experientially significant, playing the function of mental process in the clause. However, the expression shuōbúdìng in example 4.11c should be analyzed as modal Adjunct rather than verbal Process because it is experientially insignificant. It is deductible as shown in example 4.11d. But from example 4.11c to example 4.11d, the meaning of probability is lost. It could be theorized as decategorialization in the sense of Hopper and Traugott (1993: 102). In SFG, this could be modeled as change of its metafunction from experiential projection (meaning don't know) to interpersonal projection (meaning probably).
Another item that could be analyzed in a similar way is méi zhǔn '没准NEG accurate'. It is a verbal group serving as Attribute in example 4.12a but as modal Adjunct in example 4.12b below:
[4.12a] zhè huǒchē méi zhǔn.
这 火车 没 准
this train NEG accurate (BCC Literary).
'This train is not on time.'
[4.12b] méi zhǔn yìhuì jiù huì xiàyǔ.
没 准 一会 就 会 下雨 (BCC Literary)
NEG accurate soon just will rain.
'It will probably rain soon.'
The common feature of these groups is that they cannot be modified by degree adverbs. We cannot say hěn shuōbúdìng (很说不定) or hěn méizhǔn (很没准) for modal assessment. The only exception is that they can be modified by the verbal adjunct yě 'also' when the group occurs at the end of a clause. For instance:
[4.13a] wǒmén huì biànchéng péngyǒu yě shuōbúdìng.
我们 会 变成 朋友 也 说不定
we will become friend also probably.
'It is also possible that we will become friends.'
[4.13b] yíhuì jiù huì xiàyǔ yě méizhǔn.
一会 就 会 下雨 也 没准
soon just will rain also probably.
'It is also possible that it will rain in a while.'
Here the placement of the groups is textually motivated. The textual meaning is to construe modality as NEW. It is similar to the evaluative enhanced construction "it is … that", e.g. it is also possible that, in English (Fawcett and Huang 1995, Wang 2008). Without this kind of grammatical construction in Chinese, the post position of a group is a more common strategy. The verbal groups could not be considered as realizing events because no Participant is involved. Hence, they realized implicit modality.
Word rank: Implicit modality
Down to the word rank, implicit modality is construed as verbal adjunct which is realized by modal auxiliariesFootnote 1 such as yīnggāi '应该should'. Modal auxiliaries serve as premodifiers in verbal groups. See the example below:
[4.14a] tā yīnggāi zài jiā.
他 应该 在 家
He probable at home.
'He should be home.'
[4.14b]? yīnggāi tā zài jiā.
应该 他 在 家
probable he at home.
The modal assessment is realized by the verbal auxiliary. Hence it cannot be moved to the initial position of the clause as illustrated in example 4.14b. Another way to realize implicit modality is to use the mood particle ba (see Zhu 1996). Now manifestations of modality at various ranks in Chinese are summarized in Table 6 below:
Subjective/objective modality along the rank-scale in English
The subjective and objective orientations of modality can also be examined along the rank-scale. In this way, the interaction between explicit/implicit and subjective/objective dimensions could be more clearly revealed. Table 7 displays the interaction with the examples of probability in English. To simplify the matter, cases that involve rankshift are not included.
It is interesting to note that the choice of subjective and objective orientations of modality mostly parallels the choice of explicit and implicit variants. However, at the group and word ranks, some choices are missing. It is so because the subjective orientation of implicit modality is defined based on the criterion that whether the modality could be probed by the speaker. Modality that is realized by the verbal operator (at the word rank, e.g. must) can be probed as in Must he have left? and therefore it is subjective. On the other hand, modality that is realized by the adverbial group (at the group rank, e.g. certainly) cannot be probed this way, so it is objective (Halliday and Matthiessen 2014: 181).
Also noteworthy is that when the manifestation of modality moves from implicit to explicit, the meaning potential could be further expanded, catering to interpersonal needs. For example, the explicitly-subjective modality could be realized as a conditioning clause as shown below:
[5.1] That sounds like an opportunity for perversion if you ask me. (COCA FIC).
Conditioning clauses like these are regarded as idioms that mean in my opinion in English (Chang 2017: 325). With this expression, not only is the subjective orientation foregrounded, but some sense of politeness or social distance is also added. This effect cannot be achieved with the units at group or word ranks.
Another case in point is the quasi-explicit modality in my opinion. With the half-clausal structure, some evaluative meanings could be added to further moderate the modal value. See the data from COCA in Table 8:
In the expressions like IN MY HUMBLE OPINION, the modal value of the main clause would be downgraded. However, what the usage really reflects is the social distance between the speaker and the addressee. We can hardly picture two intimate friends uttering out the expression in my humble opinion. On the contrary, expressions like IN MY PROFESSIONAL OPINION tones up the modal value of the main clause by the positive item PROFESSIONAL. Hence the meaning potential of modality could be multiply expanded with the manifestation going from implicit to explicit.
Subjective/objective modality along the rank-scale in Chinese
The choice of subjective and objective orientation is available for the modality that is realized at the clause rank in Chinese. Similar to English, the subjective orientation is realized by verbal/mental clauses while the objective orientation is realized by relational clauses. They could be exemplified as follows:
[6.1a] wǒ rènwéi tā zài jiā.
我 认为 他 在 家
I think he at home.
"I think he is home."
[6.1b] - tā zài jiā.
他 在 家
he at home.
'He is home.'
- yǒu zhè gè kěnéng.
有 这 个 可能.
have this MEA possibility.
'It is possible.'
The expression yǒu zhè gè kěnéng in example 6.1b is an existential clause in which the existential process is yǒu 'have', and the existent is zhè gè kěnéng 'this MEA possibility'. It is explicit modality because it could not occur in the middle of the modalized clause:
[6.2]* tā yǒu zhè gè kěnéng zài jiā.
他 有 这 个 可能 在 家
he have this MEA possibility at home.
The existent kěnéng could also be graded by measure noun yì diǎn '一点a little' as in yǒu yì diǎn kěnéng 'there is a little possibility'. This type of expression is often used as a response to others' statement rather than expressing the speaker's own attitude. And it could also be used as a question:
[6.3] yǒu méi yǒu zhè gè kěnéng?
有 没 有 这 个 可能?
has NEG has this MEA possibility.
'Is there such possibility?'
But when the existent is not modified, the rank level of the expression yǒu kěnéng is not clear. It behaves more like an adverbial group as it could occur in the middle of the modalized clause as already shown above. Hence the item yǒu kěnéng is analyzed as modal adjunct when it occurs as part of another clause.
At the phrase rank, it seems there is no objective orientation of modality. Similar to English, the meaning potential is also expanded through self-evaluation in angle. The most frequent evaluative items are listed in Table 9.
By and large, the evaluative items occur more frequently with more potential choices in Chinese angle than English.
For implicit modality, it is not necessary to distinguish subjective and objective orientations because there is no finite system in Chinese (Halliday and McDonald 2004). Modality can be probed simply by adding the mood particle mā '吗' or tag question shì mā '是吗' at the end of the clause. For instance:
[6.4a] tā kěnéng zài jiā mā?
他 可能 在 家 吗?
he probably at home MOD.
'Might he be home?'
[6.4b] tā kěnéng zài jiā, shì mā?
他 可能 在 家,是吗?
he probably at home be MOD.
'He might be home, might he not?'
The realizations of subjective/objective modality in Chinese are summarized in Table 10:
One prominent difference between Chinese and English is that the choices of objective modality are all missing at group and word ranks. Therefore, the system network of ORIENTATION in Chinese should be revised as in Fig. 3 below:
The network is reworked to highlight the fact that it is not necessary to distinguish subjective and objective orientations in implicit realizations of modality in Chinese. Only when explicit modality is chosen, the choice between subjective and objective orientations becomes available. It is so because the finite system of mood does not exist in Chinese. The evidence is that when the implicitly subjective and objective modality is translated from English, it is difficult to represent the difference in Chinese as illustrated below:
He may be home.
He is probably home.
Translation: tā kěnéng / yéxǔ / shuōbúdìng zài jiā.
他 可能 /也许 / 说不定 在 家.
While, in English, may and probably are subjective and objective respectively, the expressions in Chinese kěnéng, yéxǔ and shuōbúdìng behave similarly except that kěnéng is gradable and the latter two are ungradable. They are not part of the finite (because there is no finite) or mood.
Is it possible to identify other criteria to judge the subjective orientation of the implicit modality in Chinese? Consider the example below,
[6.5] tā zài jiā ba.
他 在 家 吧
he at home MOD.
'He is probably home.'
The mood particle ba in example 6.5 signals the speaker's uncertain attitude. It is a case of utilizing the mood element (similar to the finite in English perhaps?) to give modal assessment in Chinese. Hence it could be viewed as implicitly subjective modality. But still, it could not be used in a systematic way like the finite in English (e.g. should for modulation and must for modalization). Hence the distinction between subjective and objective in implicit modality could not be justified. Similarly, in quasi-explicit modality, it appears that there is no expression in Chinese that is correspondent to the prepositional phrase in all probability. The translation is likely to be an adverbial group hěn kěnéng 'very probably' or an idiom shí yǒu bā jiǔ '十有八九, literally, ten has eight nine'. The idiom is not a coverbal phrase but a lexicalized item that functions as modal Adjunct. It is more appropriate to treat the idiom as an adverbial group as well. In other words, no clear evidence supports the necessity to distinguish subjective and objective orientations in implicit modality in Chinese.
Preliminary evidence in parallel corpus
The previous sections have examined the explicit and implicit manifestations of modality in English and Chinese along the rank scale. However, more evidence is needed to justify the explicit/implicit categorization and the notion of quasi-explicit in particular. For this, we turn to translation. Matthiessen (2014) posits that translation (be it shift or equivalence) might be interpreted through dimensions of language organization: stratification, rank, instantiation, metafunction, delicacy, and axis (cf. Matthiessen 2001, 2014; Halliday 2009; Huang 2017). It is believed that drawing our attention to the dimension of rank may reveal the semantic features of various realizations of modality.
The sample data of the current study is collected from the English-Chinese parallel corpus of CCL.Footnote 2 We have searched the corpus with three sets of key words: 'I think', 'in my opinion', and 'perhaps'. The three expressions are chosen because they are the most typical manifestations of explicit, quasi-explicit and implicit modality in English. Then the first 50 available instances of each expression are collected, generating a total number of 150 instances. How these expressions are represented in Chinese is shown in Table 11:
The explicit realization of modality I think parallels with explicit realizations in Chinese in most cases (88% of the total). Here is one typical case:
[7.1] wǒ rènwéi gè duìxiàng gōngsī jiāng zǒu dào qìqǐ.
我 认为 各 对象 公司 将 走 到 一起
I think each object company will walk to together.
English text: I think the object companies will come together.
However, there are 4 instances in which the explicit realization corresponds to implicit realization in Chinese. The most frequent implicit realizations are kǒngpà '恐怕afraid'. See one example below:
[7.2] xuānchuán gōngzuò huìyì tíchū dǎngxiào hé lúnxùn fēnkāi.
宣传 工作 会议 提出 党校 和 轮训 分开
propaganda work conference propose Party-school and training separate.
kǒngpà zhègì yìjiàn shì duì de.
恐怕 这个 意见 是 对 的.
afraid this advice is correct PAR.
English text: At the conference on propaganda it was proposed that Party schools be separated from this training, which I think is the correct thing to do.
Moreover, two instances find no corresponding expressions in Chinese. The motivations for the translation shift are not clear. When the explicit modality is represented implicitly, the subjective orientation is lost. Thus the interpersonal equivalence is affected. Nevertheless, these cases are rare in my data.
As for quasi-explicit realizations of modality, 84% of the phrase in my opinion are manifested explicitly in Chinese as shown in example 7.3a.
[7.3a] wǒ kàn zhè zhǒng xì yǎn yìdiǎn yě kéyǐ.
我 看 这 种 戏 演 一点 也 可以
I see this MEA show perform a-bit also all-right.
English text: In my opinion, it is all right to stage some of them.
Only 22% are manifested quasi-explicitly. Consider the examples below:
[7.3b] jù wǒ kàn, xíngshì bǐ yìxiē rén qiáng,
据 我 看,形势 比 一些 人 强,
according-to I see situation than some person powerful.
shènzhì bǐ dà guan qiáng.
甚至 比 大 官 强。.
even than big official powerful.
English text: In my opinion, circumstances are more powerful than individuals, even than high officials.
[7.3c] wǒde yìsī shì, yīnwèi jūnduì shòu de zànyáng tài duō le.
我的 意思 是, 因为 军队 受 的 赞扬 太 多 了,
my opinion be because army be SUB praise too many ASP.
suóyǐ bù néng zhǐ bào xǐ bú bào yōu.
so NEG can only say happy NEG say sad.
所以 不 能 只 报 喜 不 报 忧。.
English text: In my opinion, we shouldn't talk only about the strong po[in]ts of our army to the neglect of its weaknesses, because it has been praised often enough.
In example 7.3b, a coverbal phrase jù wǒ kàn据我看 'according to me' is employed to construe the quasi-explicit modality. This strategy is used in 8 instances. In example 7.3c, modality is realized by a relational clause wǒde yìsī shì我的意思是 'my opinion'. Thus, it is regarded as explicit modality. This strategy is used in 3 instances. It is surprising that quasi-explicit realizations are not paralleled between the two languages. The explicit realization occurs more frequently than quasi-explicit realization (84% versus 16%) in Chinese for quasi-explicit modality in English. In other words, most of the quasi-explicit modality in English is shifted into explicit orientation in Chinese. It seems that the difference between explicit and quasi-explicit realizations of modality is blurred in translators' bilingual knowledge. This phenomenon serves as strong evidence for the notion of 'quasi-explicit' modality as proposed in this study. In other words, the intermediate realization of modality that lies between explicit and implicit ends is close to the explicit end rather than the implicit end. It also supports the basic assumption in SFG that a prepositional phrase is a minor clause.
In the case of implicit modality, the adverbial group perhaps is mostly paralleled with implicit realizations in Chinese (76%). Explicit or quasi-explicit realizations are not found in the Chinese texts to parallel with implicit modality in English. Notably, 24% of the instances in English find no expression in Chinese texts. It reveals the fact that interpersonal meaning is often overlooked by the translator when the modality is implicit.
Another interesting issue is to examine how verbal groups such as shuōbúdìng '说不定' and méizhǔn '没准' are translated into English because verbal groups cannot be used to construe modal Adjunct in English. The corpus mentioned above generates 13 instances for shuōbúdìng and 4 instances for méizhǔn (Table 12).
Most of the expression shuōbúdìng parallels implicit modality in English. Below is one example:
[7.4a] shuō bú dìng shàngmiàn yǒu míngzì huòzhě shěnme.
说 不 定 上面 有 名字 或者 什么
say NEG firm on have name or what.
English text: maybe its got a name on it or something.
Two instances correspond to explicit modality in English. It is translated into someone's knowledge about something.
[7.4b] xǔduō rén hěn dānxīn hàipà yǒukěnéng shuōbú dìng.
许多 人 很 担心 害怕 有可能 说 不 定
many people very worry fear have-possibility say NEG firm.
shìjiè mòrì zhēnde jiù zài nà yì tiān.
世界 末日 真的 就 在 那 一 天。.
world end really just at that one day.
English text: many were afraid--afraid that perhaps--who knows--the world might end that very day.
The tendency is the same with the expression méizhǔn. The translation proves that the verbal group at issue realizes implicit modality. It differs from the adverbial group in the sense that it foregrounds the meaning of mental processes.
The study has compared the system of ORIENTATION of modality in English and Chinese. The two languages share the same strategy in explicit and implicit orientations. Specifically, modality could be realized by units of various rank levels. Explicit modality is construed as Figure. Quasi-explicit modality is construed as projecting Circumstance. Implicit modality is construed as modal Adjunct, part of Process/Predicator, or mood elements. One systemic difference between English and Chinese is that the word that realizes implicit modality is the finite (verbal operator) in English while the word in Chinese is the verbal adjunct (verbal auxiliary). This leads to another major difference: in English, the implicitly subjective modality is realized by the finite whereas in Chinese, there is no such grammatical resource. Hence there is no need to distinguish subjective/objective orientations in implicit modality. In fact, the choice of subjective and objective orientation is most obvious in explicit modality (not in quasi-explicit or implicit modality) in Chinese. Another difference is that at the group rank, verbal groups can be used to construe modal Adjunct in Chinese while this phenomenon is not found in English. Nonetheless, in both languages, moving up the rank scale from implicit to explicit modality means expanding the meaning potential of modality. Finally, the parallel corpus shows that translation shifts mostly occur in quasi-explicit modality. That is, the modality realized quasi-explicitly in English is more often represented explicitly in Chinese texts. It proves that the term 'quasi-explicit', as proposed in this study, captures the semantic nature of modality realized by units at phrase rank.
Modal auxiliaries here are analyzed as words that occupy the pre-Head position of a verbal group as proposed in Halliday and McDonald (2004: 314–315).
The website of CCL corpus: http://ccl.pku.edu.cn:8080/ccl_corpus/index_bi.jsp
- Acc:
according to
measure noun
subordination marker
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I would like to thank Prof. Chang Chenguang and Prof. Liu Peifu for their general support.
This paper is part of the project "Circumstantiation of Projection in English and Chinese from the Functional Typological Perspective (GD16XWW05)" financed by Office of Philosophy and Social Science in Guangdong Province.
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Authors' information
Shu-Kun Chen is a lecturer in Guangdong University of Finance where he teaches English-Chinese translation and interpreting, college English, and cross-cultural communication. He has gained a PhD at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China. His research interests are discourse analysis, social semiotics and functional syntax. He has published in Foreign Language and Literature (2014), a journal issued by Xichuan International Studies University and Foreign Languages Research(2015), published by China Liberation Army University.
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Cite this article
Chen, SK. From explicit to implicit orientation: mapping rank scale to modality in English and Chinese. Functional Linguist. 4, 15 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40554-017-0049-1
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40554-017-0049-1
- Modality
- Orientation
- Rank
- Explicit
- Implicit
- Subjective
- Objective


text:
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Good morning! I am back again with a canvas that I made for the numbers challenge at Crafts 4 Eternity (where there is also a DT call going on, if you are interested!). I also took a few photos along the way, to show you how I made it.
This is also my guest design piece for Mixed Media Mojo, where I just happen to be this month's guest designer. The challenge there this month is 'new', with the added twist of '15'.
And finally, this is also my piece for the Documented Life Project where for Week 1 the art challenge is book paper and the journal prompt: be your own goal keeper.
I've got a few numbers on my piece. My 15 is on the bottom left hand house, to the right of the pink button. Some of the buttons have numbers stamped on them too.
Here is how I made the canvas.
I started off with an 8 x 8 inch canvas and covered the front and all four sides with Kaisercraft book paper. I used mod podge to adhere the paper to the canvas and then as a seal over the top.
I then added a dollop of gesso to the canvas and then used an old credit card to scrape it over the front and sides of the canvas. The idea is to still be able to see the book paper underneath, but it is now muted slightly.
I then put some mod podge on my craft sheet and added a little Distress Paint ~ Pickled Raspberry. You don't need too much of either. I then mixed them together thoroughly.
Again, using my old credit card, I scraped the mixture over my piece. Not too heavily. I still want to see the book paper peeking through in places underneath. The mod podge helps to seal in the gesso layer below.
I then free cut some houses and a cloud and added them to the papers. I used old Sassafraslass papers that I had. These made it really easy to create my design and the papers have layers within themselves.
Again, covering all the sides.
I then began to work all the paper pieces into the canvas using Faber-Castell Pitt Pens, rub-ons and rubber stamping.
I added real buttons, inspired by the button images on the papers. Then I stamped on them, to merge them into the piece.
The blue speckles on this photo are glitter, which I added on with mod podge.
The windows and door were free cut using the left over scraps from the original Kaisercraft paper that was my first layer on the canvas. You are my sunshine my only sunshine.
You make me happy when skies are grey.
You can still see some of the first layers of uncovered Kaisercraft book paper peeking through in places.
I am entering this into the following challenges:
- new beginnings ~ Anything But A Card Challenges
- what's new? ~ Crafty Calendar Challenge
- anything goes ~ Dream Valley Challenges
- all things new ~ Natalie & Amy Challenges
- get in shape ~ Papertake Weekly


text:
I keep coming up with reasons to talk about this band, despite the fact that they haven't released any new music in more than five years. The last time I found an excuse was almost exactly one year ago, in exactly the same place where I am now (Jackson, Wyoming), after playing the song to exactly the same group of people I was hanging out with last night.
Arkhamin Kirjasto have recorded 19 songs so far, in the eight years they've been together, but I continue returning to one song, because it has such tremendous primal attractiveness that it rises up from my memory in a way that few songs do. And it did again last night, and that's all it took for me to find one more excuse to put the stream on our site.
The song is "Cult of No Return", and it appeared on Arkhamin Kirjasto's only album (so far), Torches Ablaze, which I reviewed in September 2012, and included these words:
"They've pulled off a neat trick on their virally infectious debut album: combining throwback heavy metal riffs, death metal vocals, atmospheric guitar touches, and Lovecraftian lyrics in a way that's as interesting as it is irresistible….
"…An argument could be made that all infectious music is simple. It's not that our minds are incapable of remembering complexity, but there's something about simple combinations of chords and rhythms that have a way of embedding themselves. Of course, creating such things isn't easy. Arkhamin Kirjasto have that special knack for creating infectious music, but they're not satisfied with delivering viral riffs that would be right at home in a Priest or Maiden or Motörhead song. They add unusual atmospherics and a tincture of evil through a myriad of clever touches that make this album a striking and unusually satisfying debut."
I stand by those words all these years later. Torches Ablaze is one of the few albums from the year of its release that I go back to, which is a mark of its power, given that I spend 99% of my time listening to new things. And this song in particular is so goddamned ingenious that it continues to flower in my head whenever I'm in the midst of people who aren't normally into heavy metal but are willing to indulge my own interests.
I will add that Arkhamin Kirjasto aren't moribund. Their last Facebook status appeared in September 2017, but it said this: "We will be back in 2018." And I fervently hope that will prove to be true.


text:
Track and Field: Indiana Relays to add prep time for Big East
Joseph Monardo | Thursday, January 26, 2012
Coming off an impressive performance in the Notre Dame Invitational, the Irish travel to Bloomington, Ind., for the Indiana Relays this weekend.
Now several weeks into its schedule, Notre Dame hopes to continue to add momentum leading up to the first Big East championships of the season. Notre Dame coach Joe Piane said the Indiana Relays represent a great opportunity for the Irish to participate in a competitive environment as the meet will include talented representatives from a number of different schools.
"It's a good quality field all the way around which is really important," Piane said. "You've got to have good competition and this appears to be really good competition."
In the meet, Piane will also have the chance to see some of his athletes compete in new and unfamiliar events.
"We'll find out where some people are in different events," he said. "Everybody has raced, but we are going to put some people in different events. [Sophomore sprinter] Patrick Feeney and [freshman sprinter] Chris Giesting are going to be running the 200[-meter dash], which they haven't done as much this year, and Chris certainly hasn't."
Giesting provided the highlight in last weekend's home event for the Irish by breaking a 29-year-old school record in the 500-meter run his first time competing in the event. The talented freshman is among the group of top performers Piane expects to lead the way for the Irish in their upcoming meet.
"We have some very good individuals in the field events and we have three very good 400-meter men in Brendan Dougherty, Chris Giesting and Pat Feeney," he said. "On the women's side we have some pretty good middle distance and distance and we have some very good sprinters. [Freshman sprinter and hurdler] Kaila Barber is running well, and [senior] Maddie Buttinger is one of the better multi-event athletes, certainly in the Big East. So we have some pretty good kids everywhere. We've got a good club all the way around, both genders."
Competing for the Irish for the first time this weekend will be a trio of football players. Freshman running back George Atkinson III, freshman cornerback Josh Atkinson and sophomore cornerback Bennett Jackson joined Piane's team for practice this week and will be running sprints for Notre Dame this weekend.
The meet at Indiana will give Notre Dame's stars a chance to shine, but will also provide other Irish athletes with an opportunity to earn a spot in the Big East championships, scheduled for Feb. 18 and 19 in New York City.
"Our goals, always, are to do well at the Big East meets and get to the NCAAs," Piane said. "We have a lot of kids [who have] qualified for the Big East meet already, and you can't get to the Big East meet unless you qualify. Then, we hope to get some kids to the NCAA Nationals."
With his team's long-term goals in mind, Piane expects to see successful results from his athletes this weekend.
"I think we will do well, I think we will do very well," he said.
The Indiana Relays begin at 3 p.m. Friday and continue all day Saturday at Indiana University.


text:
We've already established that no one will go to jail over $40 billion turfing of the brokerage firm MF Global, one of history's largest bankruptcies.
MF Global died by the hand of the former Jon Corzine, the former golden boy at Goldman Sachs, the former Senator, the former Governor, the former Obama guru with a master's degree from the University of Chicago; the sage with the Sixties beard wrapped in a custom-made Burberry suit and tie.
Like a lot of stories these days, Chicago works its way in there like a burr buried deep in someone's hair since the 1960s.
If you are like me, you're about as tired of my hometown of Chicago as the Detroit Lions are of Soldier Field. You are as tired of being ruled by aging hippies as you are of seeing the 17 daily reruns of the Big Chill, the Deer Hunter and Born on the Fourth of July on movie channels.
Chicago's become the punchline behind the joke on the Obama administration in the same way that Monica Lewinsky became the punchline for the joke on Bill Clinton's administration.
Metaphorically, there's a great big stain splotching up the frock Chicago's wearing. And we don't have to wait for the DNA test to show who the culprits are or what they are up to.
You can tell them by the Goldman and the Sachs, the Princetons, the Yales, the Harvards, the clubs, the honors, the appointments, the fundraisers, the central banks, the mob.
So there is much more to it than the merely personal story of one or two men.
The rise and fall of Jon Corzine is an important story, in the same way the Rod Blagojevich story is important because it frames the flaws in our country vividly.
That these two deeply imperfect men were pushed forward vigorously as leaders in state and industry, should give pause to anyone who hopes that America's best days are not behind us. One will end up in jail because he didn't belong to either Goldman or Sachs, and one will skate because he went to the right school; he'll likely do more than skate actually.
Look for Corzine to end up like the Dick Morris of the left, making millions from the comfort of a TV studio, because a big fat TV contract is the ultimate reward for ultimate incompetence.
"I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed," wrote Jonathan Swift well prior to the age of 600 digital channels that needed embarassing content.
How we end the practice of rewarding and advancing incompetents like Corzine and Blagojevich at the top of the leadership food chain will go a long way toward explaining how America can become great again.
Let's be clear about this: Somewhere along the line, this country stopped being a meritocracy and instead became a Confederacy of Dunces to use another Swiftian phrase: "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him," wrote Swift.
Barack Obama could stand on stage today and shoot an unarmed girl in a wheel chair and Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews and the rest of media midgets would tell you how the girl had it coming.
That's why a firm like MF Global can produce a $40 billion bankruptcy, conveniently misplacing billions in the process and no one goes to jail.
"Of course, we're not yet being told who has $1.6 billion of customer funds still unaccounted for," writes Francine McKenna, a Forbes.com contributor. "If the SIPA Trustee James Giddens tells you he may be able to make customers almost whole, it's from other funds recovered via negotiations from other sources. Not one organization has been sued, nothing has been clawed back, no one has been held formally responsible."
That's the type of dodge that politicians have been running for centuries.
What's different in this century, as opposed to the last, is that the media today is an unnamed, unindicted co-conspirator in the crimes of government.
We didn't get into a debt problem in this country because we needed the money; we didn't meltdown the housing market because homeownership is less important now than it was 30 years ago; we didn't make a wreck of healthcare because healthcare delivery is very different today than it has ever been.
Instead, all we have done is let the dunces confederate against the genius of America.
We're surrounded by those dunces, in the UN, in Congress, on Wall Street, in the White House, the state house, in think tanks, in associations, in non-profits, on TV and in the news rooms.
Where the public good is at stake, we are a nation of idiot savants, with a special emphasis on the word "idiot."<
Video: Wikileaks Attacks Sarah Palin More Video
We've heard nothing from some of these idiots- the ones who say they share my conservative views -since the election but that perhaps it's time to raise taxes just a little bit, you know?
For the sake of compromise?
They know as well as I do that a tax increase will just be more fodder for foolish Obama spending; they know that the talk of balancing the budget and deficit reduction is a scam.
These same people were just months ago arguing vehemently against any tax increase at all. It was going to be the ruination of the country. Yet, today, just a little tax increase is A-OK.
So the American people ask legitimate questions of the GOP: Which is it? Are little more taxes on the rich OK, or are they not?
And the GOP mumbles an excuse because it fumbled the ball.
They are idiots all.


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Today, during my morning routine of opening my laptop, clicking on literally anything, and just screaming and screaming, I made the astonishing discovery that Donald Trump has only been president of the United States for about three weeks. Which is weird, because I could have sworn we had fallen through a tesseract into the airless crush of a two-dimensional void at least seven eternities ago, or what would have constituted seven eternities if such a place had a linear concept of time. Turns out, though, it has only been 25 days, we are still on earth, and every cell in my body has not been excruciatingly flattened into pure math. It just feels like it.
It's an understandable mistake, I think. Trump has really been eat-pray-loving his way through his first month as the most dangerous man on earth, seeding so many potential atrocities – including, perhaps, the breakdown of the republic itself – that human consciousness has been reduced to a panicked blur, a zoetrope of galloping despair. There are simply too many emergencies to hold all of them in your mind at once. Cecily Strong captured the feeling on this week's Saturday Night Live: "Let me just say, you're doing too much. I want one day without a CNN alert that scares the hell out of me."
For instance, here's what happened in the past few days in Trump's America, off the top of my head:
After Kellyanne Conway's rumoured banishment from Sunday-morning cable news shows, the lucky public finally came face-to-face with senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who revealed himself to be a lizard who got a little too far from the heat lamp.
Miller announced, with all the poise and charm of a bottom-tier meninist YouTuber who is one rejection away from a school shooting, that peasants shall not question the supreme leader and voter fraud is totally real. (It's still not.)
Ivanka, presumably, continued to pretend that she would ever in a million years have talked to Miller in high school.
On the bustling patio at Mar-a-Lago, Trump discussed strategy regarding North Korea's ballistic missile launch with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, revealing that – in essence – he is selling access to classified meetings for $200,000 a pop to any bored, rich Florida dick. This is completely normal and good, unlike emails.
Michigan Republican party secretary Dan Adamini resigned after calling for "another Kent State" to deter anti-Trump protests. In 1970, the Ohio national guard shot dead four student protesters at Kent State University. Dan Adamini thought that was a good thing. The dead college children.
A Republican lawmaker in Oklahoma introduced a bill requiring women to get approval from their male partners in order to have an abortion. He then referred to women as "hosts" and was pelted with many pairs of grateful panties.
Michael Flynn resigned from his post as national security adviser after it was discovered that he discussed lifting sanctions with the Russian ambassador before Trump's inauguration, deliberately undermining Obama's attempt to punish Russia for interfering in the election – almost as though the Trump campaign was not particularly upset about said interference! It's claimed that Flynn then lied to Mike Pence about it, which Pence hated. Also, it turns out that Flynn was talking to the Russians way back before the election, which means this whole administration may be implicated in some enormous treason for which it cannot make Flynn the sole scapegoat.
Reminder: We still have not seen Trump's tax returns.
Intelligence agencies are reportedly withholding information from Trump because he – the literal president – is a security risk.
Veterans on their way to support the "water protectors" at Standing Rock report being targeted by law enforcement, who apparently, like this administration, are anti-water.
Nearly 200,000 people have been evacuated from the area around Lake Oroville dam in northern California, because the dam's spillway has a giant hole in it, because America prefers to spend its time protecting itself from refugee children instead of maintaining a safe and functioning infrastructure. Governor Jerry Brown requested federal aid from Trump (who has previously vowed to "punish" California for refusing to join him in gleefully and gratuitously destroying the lives of immigrants), but so far Trump has neither responded nor made any public mention of the impending disaster.
He did, however, find time to tweet this: "Just leaving Florida. Big crowds of enthusiastic supporters lining the road that the FAKE NEWS media refuses to mention. Very dishonest!" My mom says I'm cool!
The common housefly lives for about four weeks and, in that time, lays about 1,000 slimy white eggs. One can't help but wonder: how much does the fly know? Can the fly sense its own mortality? How competent is the fly? Is the fly crapping out eggs willy-nilly on pure wild instinct, or is it cannily exploiting its brief lifespan in order to maximise personal power and profit and ensure the political dominance of its offspring with the help of two other really racist flies? Does the fly even want this job?
We may never find out. You cannot talk to a fly. All you can do is squash the eggs.


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This session is about your career perspective as an engineer, especially when the path may take an "unexpected" turn from technical lead to first-time engineering manager.
We will explore the differences between managing and leading, review different management styles, and discuss their impact on both the manager and the team member. Finally, we will find out why you do not want to treat everyone equally. I will share my personal experiences going from being one of the team to actually managing it: the pitfalls of suddenly being responsible for the team, typical problems surfacing, and how to avoid common mistakes.
As part of the session, I would also like to share thoughts and considerations about which career path could be the right one for whom, and what the advantages and disadvantages are going one way or the other.
This is not a "You get it all from the expert"- session, but a session to share experiences and discuss how this fits to your career path.
The session is approved.
The presenter will not allow another presenter.
There are 77 people interested in this session.
We would like to kindly thank Chandler - Gilbert Community College for allowing us to use their facility for this event.


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Best Cordless Vacuum Cleaners 2018: When the whole world seems to be going around in the whims of going wireless, then why should the arena of cleaning be left behind! So, its time that you upgrade that old-restricted-by-2mtr.-noise-making kinda vacuum cleaner with a brand new wireless / cordless one! What? Never heard of it!
Weren't there times, when you had plugin-plug out the cord every time you needed to change the corner of the room at alone going to the next room, you imagined something which would work without any binding restriction on the name of wires! If you are looking to cut the cord from your vacuums, then you have arrived at the right place.
Best Cordless Vacuum Cleaners 2018
So, here we are with a comprehensive list of top 5 best cordless vacuum cleaners you can opt for! We will cut the commercial and move directly on to the agenda of ours….
Dyson V8 Absolute Cordless Vacuum Cleaner:
Dyson V8, obviously much efficient, faster and better than revered predecessor V6 (yea! these guys decided to give V7 a skip), it has got more than you can ever hope for even though that's a different story that it's gonna put a big deep hole in your pockets. It's the pinnacle of the cordless technology.
The most remarkable feature is the amount of noise it creates and that is almost negligible when compared to its competitions. So, now kids ain't gonna start shouting to shut it down as soon as you fire it up. Its battery is also good enough which can last up to 25-30 minutes at medium settings but all the hell breaks down when you try your luck in max settings for a longer time. It ain't gonna work for more than 6 minutes.
Owing to its flexible size, you can use it to clean your cars, sofas and tricky, high corners too. And the good news for allergy sufferers is that its filtering system is also very efficient!
Check: Best Headphones.
Numatic New Henry HVB160 Cordless Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner: Amazon
The best thing about the Henry is that these guys are providing not one but two batteries at a time, which take about 3 to 4 hours to hit the 100% and are gonna last you upto at least half an hour each. And obviously the factor that it is one of the most trusted brands of the nation can't be neglected and to provide up to the expectations, it cleans up quite well and the only problem we faced was with pet hairs.
It shows its magic on all kind of floors and has got an amazing filter which is a factor which matters the most if you have got allergy issues on your list!
Philips Anti-Allergen 2 in 1 Vacuum Cleaner FC6168: Amazon
With a running duration of more than 45 minutes with just a charging period of around 4 hours, it surely aces this criterion among the whole list. So, you need to keep this product from Philips on the top of the list if you have got a bigger house!
It works efficiently on all types of floors and does its task well even in the tight corners and small cracks. Half of it being detachable, it also works out well as a handheld cleaner.
The only downside is that this thing conjures up a lot of noise and wasn't able to get the tag of satisfactory when it comes to carpets.
Black + Decker Lithium Flexi Vac with Pet Hair Removal Tool: Amazon
At this price, it's surely the best one available if you searching for something to wipe your clean from the inside. Its flex-hose is a remarkable experience to work with and gets everything into itself from pet hairs to pongs to daily dirt.
Again owing to its flexi-hose, you can easily reach under the sofas and beds without having to move them around. The drawbacks are that it runs out of power within 15 minutes only even after a charging of almost 4 hours and also makes a lot of noise.
Vax Blade 32V Cordless Vacuum Cleaner TBT3V1P1: Argos
This is significantly cheaper than the Dyson V8, but we think it does some things better, including blitzing stubborn fibers and hairs out of carpets quickly and easily. But the downside is that it was not as effective on hard floors and even its filter was not as good.
But still, it showed good promises when it comes to battery life with stats of 45 minutes with a charging of 4 hours. But once you try the stunt of going on to boost mode, you are bound to be out of power within a bracket of 15 minutes! But still, due to its size, it's quite handy.
Black + Decker SVJ520BFS 2-IN-1 Cordless Vac with Smart Tech: Amazon
If you want something which won't have an impact on your monthly expenses and still holds the tag of being a cordless machine, this is the one to go for. If you have got a major part to be cleaned up as the hard floor, this is even better even though it runs out within 20 minutes and survives only 15 minutes on its higher settings.
Even though it makes a lot of noise, its suction is quite good if you keep away from carpets and sofas and curtains.
Other very good and notable vacuum cleaners which make into the list are:
- Shark DuoClean Cordless TruePet IF250UKT
- Dyson V6
- Dyson V6 Absolute
- Dyson V6 Fluffy
- Dyson V7 Animal
- Dyson V8 Absolute
Hope you found your best cordless vacuum cleaners for 2018.
Stay tuned to TheReporterTimes for more.


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COVID Survivors Project
remember · reflect · record
Documenting the lived experience of COVID survivorship
through rapid response oral history collection.
Submit Your Video Watch Submissions
Documenting the lived experience of COVID survivorship
through rapid response oral history collection.
Submit Your Video Watch Submissions
The COVID Survivors Project is an oral history project aimed at using rapid response collection to document the individual lived experience of COVID infection and its aftermath. It focuses on the lived experience of 'survivors'.
In our context, 'survivors' are not just those who have become infected and recovered. Rather, 'survivors' are:
Our effort at documenting survivorship, therefore, is not just an effort to record a feeling of trauma in the moment, but also the spaces and people that are left behind in the wake of it.
Our dystopian spring has begun to bleed into summer. We have spent what feels like endless weeks in a mode of being defined by its stasis, not knowing what is coming next, not knowing when we might see our friends and families again, not knowing when – or even if – our world will return to some semblance of the normal lives we once inhabited. For the majority of us social distancing, half-shielded faces, and staying home as a grand act of love for our community and country has come to define a world which has been upended in a mere few weeks, and turned into something none of us could have scarce imagined a few months ago.
As we acclimatise to our new normal day by day, historians and other academics are trying to record that lived experience so that we may never forget, once we are able to see one another again, what it was like to live without – without our friends, our families, and our sense of self in an open world.
But for some people, the lived experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has involved another kind of individual trauma – that of having become infected with the virus. The COVID Survivors Project is an effort to collect, collate, and preserve that lived experience so that others, both in this moment and in the future, can try to understand the experience of survivorship in this unprecedented moment in history.
Creating a record of the lived experience is an act of creating a representation of the human experience in a given moment in time. By allowing participants to use their own words to describe their experience, the project seeks to collect as authentic a representation as possible. This is why the project has chosen not to formally interview its participants; rather, each participant is encouraged to tell their story using the details, descriptions, and languages most important to the most accurate depiction of their own narrative of events.
But the lived experience is not just valuable as a static collection of historical material. There is intrinsic value, for each participant, in the act of creating their own narratives – a kind of catharsis that comes with speaking, sharing, and expressing an experience uniquely their own. Moreover, in the moment, the archive can be a useful collection of experiences for those who are currently or may in the future become infected with the virus themselves – to know that they are not alone in what they are experiencing, and to find strength and hope in the stories of others who were willing to share their trauma.
Right now, using the method of rapid response collection, we are trying to collect as many oral histories as we can in the moment. Once the pandemic reaches its end, we intend to collate those oral histories into a permanent, public, and searchable website so that future historians and others may use and consult this resource.
We are looking to collect self-recorded videos of survivors talking about their lived experience. Prompt questions are available below if you are not sure where to start which can help you to think critically about what you may want to include in your narrative. Be as open with your experience as you are comfortable being and share as many (or as few!) personal details that you find appropriate.
You will have the opportunity to upload the videos yourself through the website. Videos can easily be recorded on your smartphone or computer and uploaded directly from the point of creation. Once uploaded and approved, you can view them on our YouTube channel.
Not sure where to start? Below, you'll find a few prompts to help you structure your video. Feel free to use these if you like, or take it in a totally different direction. It's all about you and your story! You can also download the complete guide here.
If you feel comfortable, tell us about yourself – name, age, location, vocation etc.
Tell us some details about your symptoms and their severity.
How would you describe your own journey from illness to recovery?
Alongside physical symptoms, how were you impacted psychologically?
What was your support network like? How were those relationships impacted?
How do you think your government's response impacted your experience?
By uploading your video to the COVID Survivors Project site, or by sending us audio or written testimony via email, mail, or any of our social media platforms, you consent to your submission being housed within a searchable public archive and that it may be used across our social media platforms for the purposes of archive curation.
While we think that it is important to have a visual and oral history recording of your experience, as such a medium is more compelling, we understand that not everyone is comfortable with it. If you have become inspired by the project and would still like to contribute to our archive through a different medium – for example, with an audio file, written testimony, or artwork – please get in touch with us and we will share your contribution through our social media platforms.


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When Dr. Scott Cooper sits to record his podcast, he's surrounded by an eclectic collection of odds and ends in his office-turned-recording studio. Such items include: a 1980s bathroom condom machine he restored, skeletons (though he assured us they're not human), smoking memorabilia (including packs of cigarettes from the 1940s), and – one of the strangest things yet – a saw he almost cut his leg off with.
"It still has blood on it," he says. "I engraved it with the date and the time, and I hung it on the wall."
Not every item in his office has such a morbid history to it, but that doesn't mean they have no history altogether. Quite the contrary. Every item has an era attached to it, a memory or a meaning that brings his collection to a new light. You definitely don't have to be a history buff like Scott to appreciate the antiquity on his shelves. But if there's one thing that'll get you on track to being one, it's his podcast.
Every-Day History
Cooper records multiple episodes of his podcast History of Every Day at a time. He has to, really – when he's not working on his podcast, quite a bit of his time is devoted to teaching people about history.
"I actually work with several different schools. I'm an adjunct professor for three different universities, and during the day I'm a full-time high school history teacher. I'm a busy guy! I don't sleep much, and I get a lot done. Let's put it that way. And the nice thing about being able to record and not sleep is I can record an entire month's worth of daily podcasts in one evening and then schedule them out."
His podcast started small, in the same desire that sees him in all these teaching positions: to share his knowledge and love of history with the people around him.
"I've always wanted to do a podcast. It just seemed second-nature to me, to get in and say, 'You know what? I talk about history every day, I teach history every day, and to be able to talk about what happened on this day in history?' Because people always asked me before, "Hey, what's the special date today? Is it National Frankfurter Day?" And I was able to come up with that off the top of my head, so it just kinda fit hand-in-hand to be able to do that in a podcast format."
Not only is he sharing his podcast around town, it's been implemented by other schools and other teachers as a learning aid. Classrooms coast-to-coast use his daily podcast as a way to introduce the day's topic and kickstart their students' ability to get into the subject.
"I get emails from time to time from schools around the country that listen to my podcast as a bellringer, so they start the day off with that in history class. They say, 'Let's talk about what happened on this day in history,' and since it's so short, it really gives the students an overview. There's a lot of schools out there that will use this as a two-minute 'Let's warm up, this is what I'm gonna play', just to get you in the mode of 'let's talk about history now"."
The irony of it all?
"I hated history in high school! Hated it, as most people did. Just, truly disliked history. I cannot stand the old-school history teachers (there's still some out there!) that will talk for two hours, and then have you regurgitate exactly what they talked about. I was actually in the corporate world for a while before I got into education. And just kinda fell in love with history when I started to realize that I have the gift for gab and I have a story-telling ability. So when I talk about history . . . I tell all my classes this: history is not something you memorize, it's a story."
With a big, wide-spread podcast like History of Every Day, there's got to be some options for monetization – right?
"I have received a few advertisements, some things from different organizations that recorded their own [ads] and threw them in there. It's not much money, but it's interesting to see what people want to advertise. Some of them were pretty local. One of them was very local – they only wanted to pay if it was in like, a one square mile area of where they were at . . . One of them was the university, which was kind of nice."
The university being, of course, Indiana University, in his home town of Bloomington. Cooper describes it as an oasis in the corn-filled state of Indiana, a place to slide on some Birkenstocks and those 80's knit ponchos and just enjoy the scenery. (This also happens to be a university famed for quite a few alumni, including the best-selling author Suzanne Collins, but that's a whole different talk for another time.)
As of the time of the interview Cooper currently runs his intro through PodAds, using the dynamic ad-insertion service as a way to introduce his episodes. Not only does it give him more time to focus on teaching and recording, it also gives him an example of how he'd insert his ads to show future sponsors.
"What I do is I have an intro that I put in there that I use for my pre-podcast, a fifteen to twenty-second spot that I recorded. I will use that also when I do go out and get some advertisements for people to listen to, I always point them to my intro, which is just where I talk about what I do and all that. You gotta be creative."
History of Every Day currently has 364 episodes (almost the full year!), with over a hundred-thousand downloads. It exists as a reminder that every day has a chunk of history attached to it, and that there's always a little time to learn something new. So if you're looking for some cool history to impress your family and friends, Dr. Cooper's podcast is one of the best ways to go.
Check out The History Of Every Day on Social Media
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HistoryHereNow
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/historyofeveryday
About The Author
By day, a marketing writer for Podbean. By night, surrounded by eclectic projects like stop-motion puppets, half-knit sweaters, and a violin that won't learn to play itself. Certified Fresh(c) by both a bachelor's degree and a master's in English.


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Authors: Gary Ranker, Colin Gautrey, and Mike Phipps
Price: £16.99
Publisher: Wiley
Pages: 224
The sub-title of this book is 'How to maintain your integrity and further your career', which may sound like an oxymoron to the more cynical among you. The authors take the standpoint that no-one can avoid office politics, and that we might as well prepare ourselves for dealing with it.
I liked this book – it's brisk and no-nonsense, full of scenarios and case studies, accessible and well-written. Readers will find the 'Action to take' boxes particularly helpful, while scenarios such as 'Home alone', where your main political ally has resigned, will sound reassuringly familiar.


text:
How to subscribe, rate, and review our podcast
If you've checked out the Water in Real Life podcast and you're a fan, here's how to rate and review the podcast in iTunes in less than 4 minutes.
Step 1: Go to the iTunes Preview page for my podcast.
Step 2: Click the "View in iTunes" button. It looks like this:
Step 3: It will take you to the Water in Real Life page on iTunes. Click the Ratings and Review tab and then follow the instructions below.
Step 4: Rate the podcast by selecting 1 to 5 stars. If you show us 5-star love we will totally give you a shout out in a future podcast. We love our fans.
Step 5: Write a brief, honest review. We're thinking one to three sentences. We appreciate your time!
While you're there, if you haven't already subscribed, hit the subscribe button. We'd be honored to have you in Team Water in Real Life. We appreciate you!
Thank you,
Stephanie & Arianne
Hosts, Water in Real Life Podcast


text:
Sci-Fi Cargo Lift
The Sci-Fi Cargo Lift is a low-poly futuristic forklift for moving palletized cargo around loading docks and cargo bays. The included cargo is removable and can be used independently to help fill up your cargo bays and the lift can of course be loaded up any other items you may have kicking around. Fully textured, scaled to real world measurements and compatible with Vue 6+, the Sci-Fi Cargo Lift is a great addition to any sci-fi scene.


text: TV shows (and radio shows) often need to feature phone numbers (when a character tells someone their number or something). The density of idiots, crazies and other subnormals in the world means that any number read out on TV is going to get dialled. If they used real numbers, there'd be some people getting pretty pissed off at being called by crazies. Therefore, OfCom have a list of telephone numbers for drama purposes. They've got a range of numbers in each major city, one for mobiles, and an entire fake area code.


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There is nothing like the circus. The animals, the tents, and the peanuts are iconic images that many kids can recognize from birth. Circus-themed activities allow kids to experience some of the circus without the stinky smell of animals. This circus slime shows you how to make slime with laundry detergent. It looks just like a big top, and is a fun slime sensory activity for kids of all ages. This Big Top Circus Slime is the perfect Circus birthday party idea and is among our favorite science activities for preschoolers!
How to make slime with laundry detergent
Kids love making slime. The texture, the feel, the way they act like little scientists. Always note that when making slime, adult supervision is required.
Ingredients to make slime:
- Elmer's white glue
- Liquid laundry starch
- Red food coloring
- Measuring cup
- Small bowl
- Pattern blocks (optional)
How to make slime with glue and laundry detergent
Slime is a bit persnickety, so don't get discouraged if it doesn't work right the first time. We typically use a ratio of 1-1-1 for glue, starch, and water, but sometimes you'll need a bit less glue depending on humidity. If your slime seems really stringy, it might just need to run under cold water for a couple of seconds. This usually helps it firm right up.
For the circus slime, make two batches, one red and one white.
Big Top Circus Slime for Birthday Partieshttp://bit.ly/2wreA8O
Once the slime was mixed, we flipped a bowl upside down to act as a base for our big top tent. Layer stripes of contrasting red and white to make the big top tent.
We used pattern blocks to complete our circus slime "tent." A little blue pattern block was the perfect tent topper flag.
As the slime relaxes, it will mix, creating a red and white swirl. The kids loved playing with it until it completely mixed, making a sort of pink color in the end.
We broke off small sections to prevent the slime from mixing too quickly. When one batch turned pink, we put it aside and played with new stripes of red and white.
The big top slime would be a fun thing to use in a circus small word play, or along with a circus Duplo or LEGO set.
The best part is that you had all the ingredients at home to create the slime! I hoped you enjoyed the tutorial on how to make slime with laundry detergent!
What is your favorite slime recipe?
Don't forget to check out all of our favorite slime recipes.