Monogloss

An utterance which does not employ any value of engagement. Such an utterance ignores the dialogic potential in an utterance.

Examine this fact in the following examples, where there should be no engagement-invoking lexico-grammatical items in each sentence.

When there is no engagement-invoking items in the MAIN clause, we will consider it as MONOGLOSS—Primary. These are marked using Bold-face in the following examples.

We will also use MONOGLOSS—Secondary to mark any MONOGLOSS-ic verbs in SUBORDINATE or EMBEDDED clauses. These are marked using Italics.

  • Bolded red text is used to mark dependent clauses such as subordinate or embedded clauses.
  • As usual, bolded black text marks the category tag (in this case MONOGLOSS).
  • Pay special attention to brackets, as they mark the span of tags.

Examples

  • Teachers [ are facing ]MONOGLOSS-PRIMARY the difficult task of providing an optimal learning environment to students from varying social, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds.
  • [ What [ is ]MONOGLOSS-SECONDARY interesting in this example ]EMBEDDED [ is ]MONOGLOSS-PRIMARY how neither of the two views [ that [ are attributed ]MONOGLOSS-SECONDARY to others ]EMBEDDED is actually endorsed by the author, even though they are entertained and explicated.
  • The purpose of maintaining an expansive approach here [ is ]MONOGLOSS-PRIMARY clear: the author [ seeks ]MONOGLOSS-PRIMARY to present perspectives and research conducted thus far to lay the groundwork for what should be done.
  • Television [ has helped ]MONOGLOSS-PRIMARY to shrink the relative distance between people and countries.
  • [ When the news [ came ]MONOGLOSS-SECONDARY through that the National Air Traffic Services (Nats) [ was ]MONOGLOSS-SECONDARY in financial trouble and [ was being offered ]MONOGLOSS-SECONDARY a £60 million rescue package ]SUBORDINATE, the reaction of the first union official to pop up on the BBC’s radar screen [ was ]MONOGLOSS-PRIMARY predictable.
  • (NEEDS REVIEW): The preposterous idea [ that privatisation [ puts ]MONOGLOSS-SECONDARY profit before safety ]EMBEDDED [ was ]MONOGLOSS-SECONDARY a commonplace long before Nats [ was born ]MONOGLOSS-PRIMARY.
  • In the past few years there [ have been ]MONOGLOSS-PRIMARY a number of moral panics about racism, accompanied by self-serving calls from predictable quarters for more government action to deal with the problem.

An imperative clause is also classified as monogloss (Martin & White, 2005, p.111):

  • Turn out (MONOGLOSSS) the lights before you leave.

No MONOGLOSS tag on the main verb of the main/subordinate/embedded clause when you have any other engagement resources characterizing that commit unit.

  • As we can see, the popularity of Woodlands new town between residents and non-residents is directly opposite to each other. (No MONOGLOSS tag on the main verb, “is”)
  • There is nothing wrong with your proposal. (No MONOGLOSS tag on “is”)
  • According to the authors, he gave new witches everything they wished as long as they sold their soul to him. (No MONOGLOSS tag on “gave”)

Other stuff

Note that modal verbs to express obligations (should, must) are categorized as Entertain:

  • You must (ENTERTAIN) turn out the lights before you leave

These example are said to include no recognition of alternative viewpoints. That is, the writers treat the idea as an established fact at least in the sentence (i.e., bare assertion). It is also possible to say that these monoglossic sentences do NOT have any engagement items. To test if the sentence is monogloss, you can try adding any engagement items, for example:

  • The author argued that (ATTRIBUTE) television has helped to shrink the relative distance between people and countries.
  • Television can be said (ATTRIBUTE) to have helped to shrink the relative distance between people and countries.
  • In some regions (ENTERTAIN), television has helped to shrink the relative distance between people and countries.

Monogloss in fragments

If a fragment contains a main verb-like element, it should be tagged as monogloss.

  • An old man to sit or eat.

This not only includes verbs, but also predicate adjectives or nouns. This generally occurs in missing copula constructions.

  • It cold outside.
  • There many visitors today.

However, predicate adjectives or nouns can also occur outside of missing copula constructions.

  • John, Amy, marriage.

If there is no main verb-like element, leave the fragment untagged for engagement.

  • The old man and the sea.

Secondary MONOGLOSS in dependent clauses

Subordinate or embedded clauses often contain secondary engagement. See secondary engagement strategies for more info.

  • This thing seems like [ that I [ am trying ]MONOGLOSS-SECONDARY new things ]EMBEDDED
  • And conversation seems to stem freely from them [ once they [ receive ]MONOGLOSS-SECONDARY the approbation of the family. ]EMBEDDED

Secondary monogloss on dependent clauses can happen even if the whole subordinate clause has a primary engagement move (marked below with bolded orange text).

  • [ [ If places such as restaurants and hawker centres also [ allow ]MONOGLOSS-SECONDARY smoking to take place ]SUBORDINATE ]ENTERTAIN-PRIMARY , the young will undoubtedly learn to smoke from the adults.
  • [ [ Although the complaint [ had been noticed ]MONOGLOSS-SECONDARY while showering ]SUBORDINATE ]COUNTER-PRIMARY, she didn’t examine her breasts regularly.

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