Rebranding Periodicity as Encapsulating

Doran, Martin & Zappavigna (2025: 117):

To round out our discussion of ORIENTING resources, we introduce the relation encapsulating. Encapsulating involves orienting sets of positions as being synthesised ‘within’ other positions. This often occurs in higher level periodicity (Martin and Rose 2007) where general positions are put forward before or after more specific points are given.

 

ChatGPT Comments:

Encapsulating overlaps with SFL concepts such as hyperthemes, macro-structures, and thematic layering:

1. Terminological inflation: Rebranding periodicity and higher-level thematic organisation as “encapsulating” risks presenting a well-known textual phenomenon as novel.

2. Systemic vagueness: There is no discussion of choice constraints or conditions under which encapsulation occurs, leaving the term largely descriptive.

3. Interaction with other ORIENTING resources: It is unclear how encapsulating interacts with sourcing, convoking, opposing, or likening—whether these can be nested or hierarchical. This omission reduces the explanatory coherence of the ORIENTING system.