Predetermined Stance or Probabilistic Meaning?

Doran, Martin & Zappavigna (2025: 87):

As (Maton, 2014, p. 158) explains, tightly bound constellations in a community delimit the possible combinations of stances available to people by orienting options as necessarily associated or opposed. This means if someone aligns with one position in a constellation, it will likely be taken to mean they also align with others – regardless of whether they state this explicitly. Maton (2014) illustrates this by mapping the axiological constellation in education that opposes so-called ‘student centred learning environments’ with ‘teacher centred learning environments’.

 

ChatGPT Comments:

Here, the authors present axiological constellations as deterministic: one stance implies alignment with a set of others. The SFL import of this idea is underdeveloped. In canonical SFL, alignment between stances is probabilistic and realised through interpersonal meaning-making (engagement, appraisal, modality) rather than presupposed by an abstract sociological constellation. By taking Maton’s sociological claim at face value, the model risks attributing structural constraints to meaning where, from a Hallidayan perspective, only negotiation and interactional patterns exist. There is an assumption that these constellations exist independently and are merely “mapped” by SFL analysis.