Hands-On Tuning: When Stakes, Spirit, and Scope Meet Motherhood

Doran, Martin & Zappavigna (2025: 128-30):

Returning to the exchange that we have considered throughout the book, as Kristy's mother is attempting to get her dressed, we have seen that an interpersonal juggling act characterises the interaction. In this chapter we will add the dimension of tuning to our consideration of the interpersonal dynamics of this exchange. In this negotiation the mother moves Kristy toward compliance with her request, at the same time as getting Ruth to stop pushing her sister – avoiding as she does so potential interpersonal meltdowns that might delay her end goal of getting out the door on time. The skill with which she manages this interaction is apparent in the ways she adjusts the levels of risk in her proposals, as she guides her less than optimally compliant children towards departure. Throughout she adjusts the vibe of the negotiation, all the while attending to the needs of the individuals present in the exchange. Not only is it important for everyone to feel like they are heard; but in addition it is important that everyone knows that the instructions, even though often cast indirectly, are to be interpreted as directed to the two children present in the exchange.

If we look at the language in this unfolding phase, we can see its interpersonal dynamics play out as distinct choices in TUNING. Rather than directly commanding Kristy to get dressed, an option likely to put her at loggerheads with her small and obstinate interlocutor, the mother leverages the persuasive power of interpersonal metaphor by adopting an interrogative clause structure. In addition to shifting purview, the indirectness of 'how about' softens the impact of the proposal by casting it as tentative. In terms of TUNING, it lowers the stakes – most likely with the hope of avoiding the explosion of emotion that does unfortunately eventuate. Kristy's blunt refusal (‘no’) raises the stakes of her rejection of the mother's proposal, though as Kristy tries to manoeuvre her way out of going, she strategically lowers the stakes of her rejection. This is realised through the indirectness of interpersonal metaphor ('don't want to go' for 'don't make me go'). Nonetheless, her crying largely overrides this by significantly raising the stakes of her refusal. …

At the same time, the mother’s repetition of reasons for Kristy to get dressed, combined with her use of modality (probably, maybe) and lowering force (a little bit) can be interpreted via graduation (Martin & White, 2005) as lowering the stakes of Kristy leaving. …

Kristy’s mother also lowers the stakes of her initial suggestion for why Kristy doesn’t want to go out through modality metaphor, using I think and I don’t think to indicate the tentativeness of her suggestions …

Kristy and her mother’s use of grammatical metaphor earlier in the conversation contrasts with the more direct kinds of rejecting used later on such as 'don't!' by Kristy to Ruth and ‘don’t get cranky’ by Kristy’s mother in response where stakes are raised through their frankness. In this case, Kristy tries to assert her status over her younger sister by combining both asserting purview and high stakes (also suggested by the exclamation mark, suggesting a loud, sharp voice quality); but her mother trumps her by using the same strategy to protect Ruth. …

At the same time that Kristy and her mother are adjusting stakes, differing levels of ‘friendliness’ are also involved. In terms of tuning, we refer to this as SPIRIT – a scale whereby propositions and proposals are cast as more convivial [warming] or more threatening [warning]. For example, the mother employs vocatives of endearment such as pet and sweetie to warm her proposals (Poynton, 1984, 1990a). Similarly, Kristy’s use of a warming vocative Mummy in 'Mummy... I don't want to go away from you' can be interpreted as the child capitalising on the opportunity afforded by the momentary lowering of stakes that occurs when the mother reflects on the challenging time they are having together ('oh dear oh dear'). We do not know from the transcript what exactly was happening at this time; but one might imagine that while they are talking Kristy’s mother may have given her a hug and both may speak in a higher pitch and smoother voice quality to emphasise this warmth (Ngo et al., 2022; Van Leeuwen, 1999). This moment in the exchange is interrupted by Kristy’s sister Ruth pushing her leg, possibly out of jealousy at all the attention being given to Kristy in this delicate negotiation. The mother’s choice to address the child as 'Ruth' when she attempts to stop this act of minor violence is sterner than her other vocation choices in this exchange. It is a warning, even though it is tempered via the interpersonal metaphor that tends to pervade the mother’s talk ('she doesn't want her leg pushed, Ruth' for 'Don't push her leg, Ruth'). Nonetheless, despite these nuances, Kristy’s crying establishes a prosody of negative spirit combined with raised stakes that colours the entire conversation.

ChatGPT Comments:

Tuning in Practice – Kristy’s Dressing Exchange

1. Tuning as analytic overlay

• The examples are detailed and engaging, showing scope, stakes, and spirit in action.

• However, the analyses largely translate intuitively observable phenomena into Tuning terminology, rather than demonstrating that Tuning captures something independently unmodellable by SFL.

• For instance, softening a proposal with “how about” or “I think” is already describable via modality and Graduation, and marking friendliness through vocatives or prosody is captured by Attitude + Graduation + Engagement. Tuning acts more as a layer of interpretive commentary than as a distinct system.

2. Social interpretation vs linguistic description

• The critique points to the familiar Chapter 5 pattern: linguistic choices are interpreted through the lens of interpersonal effect, e.g., Kristy’s crying or Ruth’s push.

• While intuitively appealing, this approach blurs the analytic boundary between observable language and inferred social impact. For example, raising stakes through exclamation marks or prosody depends heavily on context and affective interpretation, not strictly on systemic-functional categories.

3. Redundancy and circularity

• Almost every example of “lowering stakes” or “warming spirit” overlaps with existing SFL tools: modality, Graduation, vocatives, exclamatives, prosody.

• There’s little in these examples that cannot be analysed using canonical Appraisal + Graduation + Engagement. Tuning does not uncover new semiotic mechanisms; it relabels and frames them for interpretive storytelling.

4. Pedagogical appeal vs analytic necessity

• The examples do succeed in making the concept of Tuning accessible and vivid — readers can see scope, stakes, and spirit “moving” in a live interaction.

• But the chapter risks conflating descriptive clarity with theoretical innovation. The system of Tuning is helpful for teaching or illustrative purposes, but it does not add a new analytic stratum beyond what SFL already provides.

Verdict

The dialogue illustrations convincingly demonstrate the intuitive appeal of Tuning, showing how stakes and spirit fluctuate in real interactions. Yet they also reveal the core weakness of Chapter 5: Tuning functions as a repackaging of existing linguistic resources, with analysis dependent on social interpretation. Its value lies in pedagogical exposition, not in extending the analytic power of SFL.