THE “JUST-SO STORY” IS A NARRATIVE: APPRAISAL ANALYSIS IN A SOCIAL SEMIOTIC APPROACH TO GENRE

ABSTRACT

Martin and Rose (2007 2008 Martin and White (2005) Martin and Rose (2008)

Social Semiotics; Genre; Narrative; Appraisal Analysis

RESUMO

Este estudo objetiva identificar um texto reconhecido na cultura brasileira como “lenda”, publicado em um site de apoio didático a professores, enquanto gênero. A análise é informada por uma das abordagens sociossemióticas de gênero da Linguística Sistêmico-Funcional. Foram utilizados principalmente os aportes teóricos-metodológicos de Martin e Rose (2007, 2008) e Martin e White (2005) como base. Para identificar o gênero do texto analisado, o primeiro procedimento foi a segmentação da lenda em estágios¹ e fases. O segundo procedimento foi a classificação de seus recursos valorativos, com base no Sistema da VALORAÇÃO. O terceiro procedimento foi a identificação de padrões de configurações de recursos valorativos de cada estágio do gênero. Os resultados mostram padrões de configuração de recursos valorativos no texto analisado compatíveis com os padrões definidos por Martin e Rose (2008) como característicos da narrativa, no âmbito da “família” das estórias.

Sociossemiótica; Gênero; Narrativa; Análise da Valoração

Introduction

This article reports on a study of the appraisal patterns in a text recognized in Brazilian culture as a “just-so story”. It is based upon a social-semiotic approach to genre. The text under scrutiny received a label that does not correspond to the terms adopted by most genre theories, most of which would classify it as a pre-genre, a rhetorical mode, or a narrative. Thus, this study seeks to identify the genre of this text, its stages and phases, as well as its configurations of appraisal resources.

The text, intitled “O nascimento do mundo” (“The Birth of the World”), was published on the website Nova Escola¹. The website Nova Escola belongs to a homonymous association providing a variety of resources for primary school teachers in Brazil, especially educational and pedagogical resources.

Within educational linguistics, Martin and Rose (2007, 2008), among others, have researched the genres used in primary schools in Australia. Their idea was to teach reading and writing of different genres to mitigate social inequality among students. In Brazil the contribution to the study of genre aiming at applying it to basic education stems from a group of researchers who have drawn upon text linguistics as posited by Marcuschi (2008) and other scholars. Another contribution comes from the study of academic genres that follows the rhetorical studies posited by Swales (1990) and Bazerman (2011) and the discourse analysis-based studies proposed by Bhatia (1993).

The theoretical framework of Systemic-Functional Linguistics is used in a prominent body of research in Brazil. These studies are based upon a theoretical and methodological discussion on genre, including Meurer, Bonini, and Motta-Roth (2005), and Silva and Espínola (2013), among others. Another strand of research uses genre theory as a means of narrative analysis (FUZER; GERHARDT, 2016; SILVA, 2018, among others). Lastly, there is the contribution by Vian Jr., Souza and Almeida (2010), among many others, who are devoted to analyzing the language of evaluation in different genres.

The present study is justified because it proposes the genre analysis of a text labeled as a “just-so story”, a term not recognized in the description of genres in the social-semiotic approach by Martin and Rose (2007, 2008). The appraisal analysis upon which the present description is based aims at identifying the text under scrutiny as one of the genres proposed by the authors cited.

This article also focuses on the Appraisal System, classified by Martin and Rose (2008) as an essential means of distinction between genres in the “families” of stories. Other studies have drawn upon a different appraisal theoretical framework posited by Martin and White (2005). Within Brazilian studies, Vian Jr., Souza and Almeida (2010) compile chapters that analyze evaluative resources in different genres and set the foundation for a tradition of text analysis with the theoretical framework provided by Martin and White (2005). To name but two other of the several studies, Blauth and Magalhães (2019) and Magalhães and Praxedes Filho (2018) investigate the semantic variations of appraisal in narratives. These two studies stand out because they focus on the similarities and differences between the use of these resources in the stages and phases of narratives translated from English into Portuguese (in the former paper) and in written audio description of pictures (in the latter). Meanwhile, the present article aims at identifying the similarities and differences between appraisal resources in the different stages of a text and the patterns of resources that characterize it as one of the story genres described by Martin and Rose (2007, 2008).

According to the genre typology described by Martin and Rose (2008), the story “The Birth of the World” could be interpreted as a kind of just-so story, a name given to stories from autochthonous cultures. However, Martin and Rose (2008) postulated that stories are like a family of genres which are widespread and central to all cultures. Within this genre family, the authors include the recount, the anecdote, the exemplum, the observation, the narrative, and the news article.

The first question asked in the beginning of the study was: which is the genre of “The Birth of the World” according to the authors’ typology? The initial assumption is that a text entitled “The Birth of the World” is equivalent to texts whose status as just-so-stories Martin and Rose (2008) discussed. This point will be readdressed later in this paper. Based upon this assumption, the following research questions were posed:

1. With what genre are the text stages and phases compatible?

2. Which interpersonal resources are used in the unfolding of the text in stages and phases?

3. Can we identify patterns of different appraisal resources throughout the text?

The analysis was carried out in three procedures which also corresponded to the research objectives. Firstly, it sought to delimit stages and phases in the text to identify the genre to which it belongs within the “family”. Secondly, according to Martin and Rose (2008), it sought to identify the appraisal resources instantiated in the text stages and phases. Thirdly, it sought the patterns of interpersonal meanings that constitute patterns of linguistic configurations in the stages and phases and to validate the genre identified in the first procedure.

This article is divided into five sections. Section 1 presents the theoretical framework. Section 2 describes the text chosen² for analysis. Section 3 outlines the methodological procedures. Section 4 reports data and discusses the results. Section 5 provides the final remarks and is followed by the references.

Theoretical framework

This section provides the theoretical framework upon which this article is based. It is divided into three subsections. Subsection 1 addresses the social-semiotic approach to genre. Subsection 2 presents each genre of the story family and focuses on the narrative. Subsection 3 discusses the theoretical framework of appraisal.

Social-semiotic approach to genre

To establish the principles to describe and identify genres, Martin and Rose (2008) drew upon the theoretical framework of Systemic-Functional Linguistics and the framework of other theorists, including Labov and Waletsky (1967) and Bernstein (1990, 1996). In methodological terms, the authors started with the empirical observation of the several texts written in schools, supported by “such a rich theoretical framework and draw[ing] upon far richer descriptions of meaning-making resources in English” (MARTIN; ROSE, 2008, p. 9).

Martin and Rose (2008) situate the genesis and the fundamentals of their genre-oriented approach within the scope of Systemic-Functional Linguistics, but they point out that their reflections are also part of educational linguistics, as their approach emerged from the needs related to the teaching of reading and writing genres in Australian schools. The authors understand genre as purpose or function oriented. As an operational definition, the authors postulate that genres are social processes oriented by an objective and organized in stages and phases, as several steps are needed to reach aims in social practices. In a more technical definition, genres are constituted by configurations of recurring patterns of meaning, which constitute the social practices of a given culture. In fact, genres are defined in comparison to one another.

For Martin and Rose (2008), the delimitation of the stages and phases of a genre is based upon the meaning patterns of the text. The authors build upon the discourse semantic systems developed by Martin (1992) and Martin and Rose (2007). Discourse semantics is the language stratum where the metafunctions are. In the interpersonal metafunction, the authors developed the appraisal and negotiation systems; in the ideational metafunction, the ideation and conjunction systems; and in the textual metafunction, the identification and periodicity systems. The stages and phases in the genres in the story family have recurring configurations of interpersonal meanings realized by the resources of the appraisal system; the meanings which allow us to delimit stages and phases in the unfolding text. According to the authors, Rothery and Stenglin (1997) emphasize the centrality of interpersonal linguistic resources in the narrative, a genre that this paper seeks to analyze.

One of the main aspects that distinguish Martin and Rose’s (2007, 2008) from other theoretical framework within Systemic-Functional Linguistics is that it places the notion of genre in the Context of Culture stratum, which they consider to be complementary to the Context of Situation, where the register is as already posited by Halliday (1978). They argue that this way of understanding genre allowed for an “integrated multi-functional perspective on genre” (HALLIDAY, 1978, p. 16), pervading all variables of register and allowing its description through the three language metafunctions. As genre is beyond register, it works as a pattern of the patterns of the variables of register, namely: field (the representation of the speaker’s internal and external experiences, with actions and events), tenor (the people involved in the communication situation), and mode (the symbolic organization, channel, and rhetorical mode).

The following subsection discusses stories as belonging to a “family of genres”.

The “story” as a “family of genres”

Martin and Rose (2008) describe the “story” in its various possible configurations or variations. They argue about the importance of this description, considering the centrality of genre in all cultures, in both formal and informal situations. To them, stories contribute to the maintenance of social relations in communities and families, through the appraisal of events and behaviors. Rothery and Stenglin (1997) emphasize the entertainment function of stories, but they also stress their content and ideological purpose.

The description of the types of stories as genres, as elaborated by Martin and Rose (2008), expands upon previous works from other theoretical frameworks, especially those of Labov and Waletsky (1967) and several other authors in Systemic-Functional Linguistics (EGGINS; SLADE, 2005; MARTIN; PLUM, 1997; PLUM, 1988, 1998; ROTHERY, 1990; ROTHERY; STENGLIN, 1997). The latter are, as is Martin and Rose (2008), associated with Systemic-Functional Linguistics, and they all have studied a wide and varied corpus of stories, from fictional literature to stories about the treatment of diseases. Martin and Rose (2008) argue that the functional-systemic approach has advantages such as its stratified model of language, which considers the text in context and allows associating the various types of meanings found in the stages of stories with the social function of the text.

Martin and Rose (2008) describe the many genres considered as stories. They provide examples for each one, with a detailed analysis of the structures of their stages and phases, as well as their organizational and lexical choices. They especially highlight the choices related to the APPRAISAL system (AS) in each text, characterizing each genre through the appraisal patterns found in the stages (more stable, recurring steps that characterize genres) and their phases (more variable, specific steps of each text). The authors use a typology of five genres: recount, anecdote, exemplum, observation, and narrative, which they claim to be transcultural. This typology is presented in Table 1 which illustrates the crucial stages³ of each genre and the configuration of patterns of appraisal resources in each one – the distinctive elements of genres in the realm of stories.

Table 1
Story genre family

Genres	Stages			Appraisal
Recount	Record of Events	[prosodic]	-	Variable
Anecdote	Remarkable Event	Reaction	-	Affect
Exemplum	Incident	Interpretation	-	Judgement
Observation	Event Description	Comment	-	Appreciation
Narrative	Complication	Evaluation	Resolution	Variable

Martin and Rose (2008

To Martin and Rose (2008), the recount is the record of a succession of temporal events to which a meaning is given. The anecdote involves a notable event to which there is some reaction as a response. The exemplum encompasses one or more incidents that prompt an interpretation. The observation entails the description of a meaningful event, followed by a personal commentary appreciating an aspect of this event. Finally, the narrative has a generic pattern involving the resolution of a complication.⁴

Rothery and Stenglin (1997) describe each one of these genres, fragmenting them in stages,⁵ as illustrated in Table 2 (where ꓥ means “followed by” and the parentheses mean that the stage is optional).

Table 2
Structure of genres in the story family

Genre	Structure in stages
Recount	(Abstract) ꓥ (Synopsis) ꓥ Orientation ꓥ Record of events ꓥ Reorientation ꓥ (Coda)
Anecdote	Orientation ꓥ Remarkable event ꓥ Reaction ꓥ (Coda)
Exemplum	(Abstract) ꓥ (Synopsis) ꓥ Orientation ꓥ Incident ꓥ Interpretation ꓥ (Coda)
Observation	(Abstract) ꓥ (Synopsis) ꓥ Orientation ꓥ Event description ꓥ Comment
Narrative	(Abstract) ꓥ (Synopsis) ꓥ Orientation ꓥ Complication ꓥ Evaluation ꓥ Resolution ꓥ (Coda)

Rothery e Stenglin (1997

According to Rothery and Stenglin (1997), the Abstract is a prospective interpersonal evaluation of what is coming ahead. The Synopsis is an experiential summary of the events that happen afterwards. The Orientation establishes the context, preparing the reader for the next stage. The Record is characterized by a sequence of events with temporal succession carried out by conjunctions. The Reorientation is a closure in a circular mode, referring back to the starting point of the story. The Remarkable event brings a significant, disturbing happening that can be situated in time. The Reaction is an evaluation based upon a certain interpersonal perspective. The Incident is one or more accidents resulting in the interruption of a sequence of activities. The Interpretation leads to an understanding of the incidents which gives them meaning. The Event description is self-explanatory; it promotes the description of successive happenings. The Comment highlights interpersonal meanings that give the story meaning. The Complication is a sequence of activities that disturb normality, constituting a problem for one or more participants. The Resolution deals with the return to stability upon the sequence of activities. The Coda concludes the story with a retrospective evaluation. Abstract, Synopsis, and Coda are considered optional elements in genres.

Even though Martin and Rose themselves argue that phases are variable and characteristic of each genre and the themes addressed in them, they were able to identify nine recurring phases later in their study (MARTIN; ROSE, 2008). Table 3 shows these phases and their functions. Two other phases are added as identified by Macken-Horarik (2003) and Tian (2011), respectively, who studied fiction and picture books, respectively.

Table 3
Summary of the definition of the phases of genres in the story family

Phase type	Function
Setting	Presenting context (identities, activities, locations)
Description	Evoking context (sensual imagery)
Events	Succeeding events
Effect	Material outcome
Reaction	Behavioral and attitudinal outcome
Problem	Counterexpectant creating tension
Solution	Counterexpectant releasing tension
Comment	Intruding narrator’s comments
Reflection	Intruding participant’s thoughts
Change in voice	Dialogues between participants/characters.
Test	Event that puts a character to test

Martin and Rose (2008Macken-Horarik (2003Tian (2011

Rothery and Stenglin (1997) compare the narrative to the other story genres, explaining the characteristics of each one in contrast to the others. Their focus lies on the ideational and interpersonal meanings and their function in the stages to fulfill the social functions of the genre and their realization in the lexicogrammar. The authors highlight a few aspects which are useful in the interpretation of narratives, especially the definition of genres with events that constitute problems and their outcomes, which are evaluated and followed by a resolution, among other aspects. As to the Evaluation stage, it is worth mentioning that Macken-Horarik (2003) does not consider it as a stage per se, as evaluation pervades the narrative through the appraisal marks.

Scholars of the social-semiotic approach to genre referred to in this section consider that the narrative can convey ideological messages, even though its main purpose is entertainment. These ideological messages can both help to maintain the status quo of cultures and subvert cultural practices.

The following subsection discusses the APPRAISAL system, which allows for evaluation in genres.

The appraisal system⁶ and genres

As mentioned before, Martin and Rose (2008) and Rothery and Stenglin (1997), as well as Silva (2018) and Fuzer and Gerhardt (2016), among others, highlight the role of interpersonal metafunction, particularly the role of the appraisal system, in the development of genres in the “family of stories” as distinct from one another. According to Rothery and Stenglin (1997), to fulfill the social purpose of a text, one should examine in detail how the interpersonal meanings are organized throughout the texts. The functional patterns in each stage contain semantic resources whose purpose is to realize the meanings of the stage as well as to contribute to the semantic unity of the entire text, thus fulfilling the purpose of the genre.

The appraisal system (AS) stands out in the interpersonal metafunction systems. It is presented by Martin and Rose (2007) as a part of a semantic discourse framework for discourse analysis. This system refers to: the attitudinal values of the text which contain feelings, whether they are affective, ethical, or aesthetic; the origin of these feelings (the voice manifesting them); their positive or negative loading; and their degree, whether high or low. In Martin and Rose’s (2007, p. 17) words, the AS considers “the kinds of attitudes that are negotiated in a text, the strength of the feelings involved and the ways in which values are sourced and readers aligned”.

The appraisal⁷ system network has the term appraisal as its entry condition. Its first delicacy level includes three types of appraisal meaning: attitude (the feelings and values of the author or of external voices, which include the reader), engagement (the singular or plural origin of values), and graduation (the high or low degree of values). The second delicacy level includes the following types of attitude: affection (feelings are individual and involve emotions related to one’s heart, or they are related to social well-being, or to contentment or frustration in regard to the goals that one meets or does not meet), judgment (feelings are institutionalized and evaluate people’s behavior, for ethical or legal reasons), and appreciation (feelings are institutionalized, and one appreciates things aesthetically, for its impact or quality, balance or complexity, and its value in culture). Attitudes can also have a positive or negative loading, as well as being activated explicitly (inscribed) or implicitly (evoked). They are inscribed when they are realized by lexical resources that explicitly express a type of attitude; they are evoked when they are realized by metaphorical resources or expressions or even by originally ideational resources known as attitudinal tokens that receive the propagation of interpersonal values through explicit appraisal resources.

The engagement system, in the second delicacy level of the network, is activated through two options, monogloss and heterogloss, related to how closed or how open the text is to other voices, respectively. When an utterance is a categorical statement, which does not allow disagreement, it is monoglossic. When it presents polyphony of voices, it is heteroglossic, whether it allows the manifestation of an alternative voice or restricts the scope of this voice by denying or contradicting it. Thus, heterogloss can be activated by dialogic expansion (a manifestation of an alternative voice) or dialogic contraction (a restriction of the dialogic scope of the alternative voice), according to the various choices of each system. The present study, however, does not analyze engagement.

The options of the graduation system are twofold. They are related to lexical or grammatical resources that raise or lower, to some extent, the force of feelings or that sharpen or soften a certain concept in its prototypicality (focus).

The following section discusses the text analyzed in this study.

The text “The Birth of the World”

The text chosen for analysis, entitled “O nascimento do mundo” (“The Birth of the World”), was extracted from the website Nova Escola. According to the homonymous association running the website, it shares products, services and content developed to value teachers, simplify their daily lives, and support their careers. By offering this content, Nova Escola wants to improve “Brazilian public Education and allow students to develop their full potential”⁸.

The text discusses a myth of the Māori people. The Māori are indigenous people from New Zealand who arrived there from their mythical homeland Polynesia over a thousand years ago⁹. The wanderer past of these people made them “adopt an attitude of reverence and fear of the sea (which may explain why many of their myths contain themes of travel, loss, and separation)”¹⁰.

“The Birth of the World” tells how planet Earth was formed according to the Māori mythology. Earth’s nature, as we know it, would have originated from an enormous amount of energy. The first two beings to take form would have been the sky and the earth. The sky would have formed the first masculine element (or the father of future ones), and the earth would have formed the first feminine element (or the mother of future ones). Sky and earth would have lived in darkness, until their children would separate them by force to allow light in. After that, each child would have given their personal contribution to form reality, such as creating forests, waters, and stars.

The following section describes the methodological procedures used in this study.

Methodology

The methodology used in this study is based upon Rothery and Stenglin (1997) and Martin and Rose (2008), who suggests that the analyst should segment the text in stages and phases to subsequently identify the configurations of interpersonal appraisal resources in each of these steps. It is also built upon Martin and Rose (2007) and Martin and White (2005) to identify the appraisal resources that establish patterns in the text stages and phases. This is a top-down analysis methodology, which starts from the genre stratum and considers the text as a genre, with the definition of its stages based upon the knowledge that readers have of how it works in a given culture. As genre is complementary to register in the social-semiotic theoretical framework used in this article, the register variable tenor is investigated in the genre analysis proposed in this study. The analysis is then oriented towards the discourse semantic stratum, particularly the interpersonal metafunction and the appraisal system resources.

The following list features the methodological procedures used to identify the genre structure of the text and its patterns of appraisal resources:

1. Delimitation of the text stages and phases,

2. Identification of the genre to which the text belongs,

3. Identification of the genre’s patterns of appraisal resources.

The stages are capitalized, and the phases are italicized (the purpose is to highlight the phases in the analyses). The following section reports on the results discussion.

Results and discussion

This section presents and discusses the results in three subsections. The first subsection refers to the text segmentation into stages and phases. The second subsection identifies the genre. Finally, the third reports on the appraisal resource patterns in each stage of the genre.

Stages and phases in “The Birth of the World”

Based upon the genre identified by the authors, it was possible to discard the idea that the text was a news article from the very beginning. Martin and Rose (2008) postulate that the news article is different from the other genres in the “family” of stories as it is text structured but not time structured, i.e., it is characterized by its textual organization rather than its temporal sequence (MARTIN; ROSE, 2008). The text analyzed for this study is characterized by a pattern of chronological organization of the narrated events. As it was ruled out that this text could belong to the “news article” genre, the following procedure was to segment the text into stages and phases.

The segmentation of the “The Birth of the World” is illustrated in (1):

(1) (Abstract) ꓥ Orientation ꓥ Complication ꓥ Resolution (temporary) ꓥ Complication ꓥ Resolution (temporary) ꓥ Complication ꓥ Resolution.

The text segmentation itself indicates that it is a narrative. The first stage was identified as an Abstract,¹¹ as it establishes an interpersonal context for what follows, the function of an Abstract, as shown in (2):¹²

(2) (Resumo) E começou assim.

(2) (Abstract) And it began like this.

It is uncertain whether (2) belongs to the text itself, as it is placed on the top of the page after the title of the story but before the author’s name and the publication date on the website. However, as it belongs to the page and can be read by whoever accesses the website, the sentence was interpreted as an Abstract rather than as a Synthesis, because there is no experiential focus. The function of the clause seems to be predominantly interpersonal, an interaction with the reader (Look, that’s how the birth of the world began!).

The second stage identified was Orientation. The following excerpt (3) of the story gives context to the subsequent stages of the genre; it describes the characters and the setting while also preparing the reader for an event that interrupts the normality of the status quo in the next stage, Complication.

(3) (Orientação) No início só havia Kore, a energia, vagando na escuridão do espaço infinito. Então, veio a luz e surgiram Ranginui, o Pai Céu, e Papatuanuku, a Mãe Terra. Rangi e Papa tiveram muitos filhos: Tangaroa, deus das águas; Tane, deus das florestas; Tawhirmatea, deus dos ventos; Tumatauenga, deus da guerra, que deu origem aos seres humanos; e Uru, que não era deus de nada. Rangi e Papa viviam num perpétuo abraço de amantes. Acontece que esse enlace apaixonado não deixava a luz penetrar entre seus corpos, onde ficavam os filhos.

(3) (Orientation) In the beginning, there was only Kore, the energy, wandering through the darkness of infinite space. Then, there came the light, and Ranginui, the Sky Father, and Papatuanuku, the Earth Mother, emerged. Rangi and Papa had many children: Tangaroa, god of the waters; Tane, god of the forests; Tawhirmatea, god of the winds; Tumatauenga, god of war, who created human beings; and Uru, who was god of nothing. Rangi and Papa lived in an eternal hug of lovers. It turns out that this loving embrace didn’t allow light to pass through their bodies, where their children were. (LUZ, 2010, our translation).

The Orientation situates the events in time, introduces the characters, the elements of nature, and the setting, planet Earth. It begins with the setting phase, which introduces a character, a place, and an activity: “No início só havia Kore, a energia, vagando na escuridão do espaço infinito.” [“In the beginning, there was only Kore, the energy, wandering through the darkness of infinite space.”], in a clause that starts with a circumstance of time. The following phase, events, starting with “Então” [“Then”], introduces a sequence of events: “Então, veio a luz e surgiram Ranginui, o Pai Céu, e Papatuanuku, a Mãe Terra [...] amantes.” [“Then, there came the light, and Ranginui, the Sky Father, and Papatuanuku, the Earth Mother, emerged [...] lovers.”]. The Orientation ends with the presage of the rupture that will follow from the fact that the parents’ union is responsible for preventing light from irradiating to their children. This phase is the effect of the couple’s happy union that announces some counter expectant rupture: “Acontece que esse enlace apaixonado não deixava a luz penetrar entre seus corpos, onde ficavam os filhos.” [“It turns out that this loving embrace didn’t allow light to pass through their bodies, where their children were.”].

The third stage is identified as the first Complication of the story, which poses a problem, a rupture in the previously described stability. The Complication is reproduced in (4):

(4) (Complication) Obrigados a viver apertados e sempre no escuro, os jovens resolveram dar um basta na situação.

(4) (Complication) Forced to live in a cramped place and always in darkness, the children decided to put an end to this situation. (LUZ, 2010, our translation).

The Complication is a single phase showing the children’s reaction to their dissatisfaction with their parents’ hug: “Obrigados a viver apertados e sempre no escuro, os jovens resolveram dar um basta na situação.” [“Forced to live in a cramped place and always in darkness, the children decided to put an end to this situation.”].

The fourth stage is a (temporary) Resolution, which, according to Martin and Rose (2008), serves to build suspense. This includes three phases. The first phase provides a solution introduced by changes in voice: one of the children proposes a violent solution, while another child answers with a conciliatory idea, i.e., separating the parents instead of murdering them. The second phase contains a unanimous reaction of approval by the other children to this proposal: “Todos acharam a ideia excelente.” [“All of them thought it was an excellent idea.”] The third phase presents an effect, an expected outcome, defined by material processes: “Tane, que era o mais forte de todos, firmou bem os pés em Papa [...].” [“Tane, who was the strongest of all, stomped quite firmly over Papa [...].”]. This stage is reproduced in (5):

(5) (Temporary Resolution) – Vamos matar Rangi e Papa e ficar livres deles! – disse Tumatauenga.

– Não! – disse Tane. – Vamos apenas separá-los, empurrando um para cima e deixando o outro embaixo. Assim sobrará espaço para nós e a luz vai poder entrar.

Todos acharam a ideia excelente. Tane, que era o mais forte de todos, firmou bem os pés em Papa, encaixou os ombros no corpo de Rangi e o empurrou para cima com toda a força.

(5) (Temporary Resolution) “Let’s kill Rangi and Papa and get rid of them!”, said Tumatauenga.

“No!”, said Tane, “Let’s just separate them, pushing one of them above the other. This way, there will be enough space left for us, and light will come in.

Everyone thought it was an excellent idea. Tane, who was the strongest of all, stomped quite firmly over Papa, placed his shoulders under Rangi’s body, and pushed him up with all his strength. (LUZ, 2010, our translation).

The fifth stage, identified as a Complication, as shown in (6), poses a new rupture in normalcy, a problem for the participants. It contains two phases, the first one has two clauses representing a problem as the aftermath of the temporary solution given by the children. The first clause is interposed by the second phase, an intruding comment by the narrator.

(6) (Complication) Os pais se separaram, mas – oh, decepção! – só um pouco de luz chegou ao mundo dos filhos. Além disso, Rangi e Papa estavam nus e, longe um do outro, sentiam muito frio.

(6) (Complication) The parents were separated, but – oh, what a disappointment! – just a little bit of light came to the world of the children. Besides, Rangi and Papa were naked and, being away from each other, they were cold. (LUZ, 2010, our translation).

The sixth stage provides a new temporary Resolution, or a return to relative stability, and is made up of four phases. In the first and second phases, solution phases, there is an unexpected relief from tensions, where the child Tane protects the father (“Comovido com a situação, Tane abrigou o pai com o negro manto da noite.” [“Moved by the situation, Tane covered the father with the black cloak of the night.”]) and the mother (“Para a mãe fez um vestido com as mais verdes e tenras folhas e as flores mais coloridas. Em torno dela fez ondular as águas azuis dos mares e rios de Tangaroa.” [“For the mother, he made a dress with the greenest and most tender leaves and the most colorful flowers. Around her, he made waves with the blue waters of the seas and rivers of Tangaroa.”]), respectively. After these solutions comes a description phase, evoking sensual imagery (“Os ventos de Tawhirmatea sopravam suavemente seus cabelos.” [“The winds blew gently through her hair.”]), and a phase of effect to the solution found for the children. The excerpt of the temporary Resolution is illustrated in (7) as follows:

(7) (Temporary Resolution) Comovido com a situação, Tane abrigou o pai com o negro manto da noite. Para a mãe fez um vestido com as mais verdes e tenras folhas e as flores mais coloridas. Em torno dela fez ondular as águas azuis dos mares e rios de Tangaroa. Os ventos de Tawhirmatea sopravam suavemente seus cabelos. Os filhos de Tumatauenga já começavam a povoar o mundo recém-criado.

(7) (Temporary Resolution) Moved by the situation, Tane covered the father with the black cloak of the night. For the mother, he made a dress with the greenest and most tender leaves and the most colorful flowers. Around her, he made waves with the blue waters of the seas and rivers of Tangaroa. The winds of Tawhirmatea blew gently through her hair. The children of Tumatauenga started to populate the newly created world. (LUZ, 2010, our translation).

The seventh stage contains the last Complication with new difficulties for the participants. It was not expected that Ranginui would feel jealous, that Uru would be frustrated with the others’ happiness and that these feelings would lead to negative effects. This stage, shown in (8), is divided into various phases.

(8) (Complication) Olhando lá de cima os lindos trajes da mulher e sua participação no novo mundo, Ranginui ficou doente de inveja. Sua dor cobriu o mundo com uma névoa úmida e cinzenta. Refugiado em uma dobra do manto paterno, Uru chorava e chorava por não ter sido útil em nada aos pais e aos irmãos. Para que ninguém percebesse suas lágrimas, escondia-as em cestas e mais cestas. Mas Tane tudo percebera: – Uru, meu irmão, preciso de sua ajuda!

– Nada tenho para dar, você bem sabe!

– Ora, Uru, você tem tantas cestas…

Surpreso e com medo de ser descoberto em sua fraqueza, Uru abaixou a cabeça: – Não tem nada dentro delas, irmão.

(8) (Complication) Seeing from above the woman’s beautiful garments and her presence in the new world, Ranginui was sick with jealousy. His pain covered the whole world with a humid gray fog. Hidden under a fold in the father’s cloak, Uru cried and cried for not being useful for his parents and siblings. In order that no one could see his tears, he hid them inside baskets and more baskets. But Tane noticed everything: “Uru, my brother, I need your help!”

“I have nothing to give you. You know that well!”

“But, Uru, you have so many baskets...”

Surprised and afraid of having his weakness found out, Uru lowered his head, “There isn’t nothing in them, brother.” (LUZ, 2010, our translation).

In the first and second phases, there is a reaction from each one of these characters, because there are negative results with behavioral consequences. These results were motivated by the jealousy of one of them (“Olhando lá de cima os lindos trajes da mulher e sua participação no novo mundo, Ranginui ficou doente de inveja.” [“Seeing from above the woman’s beautiful garments and her presence in the new world, Ranginui was sick with jealousy.”]) and the frustration of the other (“Refugiado em uma dobra do manto paterno, Uru chorava e chorava por não ter sido útil em nada aos pais e aos irmãos.” [“Hidden under a fold in the father’s cloak, Uru cried and cried for not being useful for his parents and siblings.”]). In the third phase, Uru found a solution to hide his emotion: “Para que ninguém percebesse suas lágrimas, escondia-as em cestas e mais cestas.” [“In order no one could see his tears, he hid them inside baskets and more baskets.”] The next phase shows Tane’s reaction to his brother Uru’s behavior, interposed with changes in voice through a dialogue between the characters and a claim for help from Tane denied by Uru and retorted by Tane: “– Uru, meu irmão, preciso de sua ajuda!” [“Uru, my brother, I need your help!”], “– Nada tenho para dar, você bem sabe!” [“I have nothing to give you. You know that!”], “– Ora, Uru, você tem tantas cestas…” [“But, Uru, you have so many baskets...”]. In the second to last phase, Uru displays a reaction of surprise and fear of having his character flaw uncovered: “Surpreso e com medo de ser descoberto em sua fraqueza, Uru abaixou a cabeça” [“Surprised and afraid of having his weakness found out, Uru lowered his head”. The last phase ends the stage with a change in voice, Uru’s ashamed answer: “– Não tem nada dentro delas, irmão.” [“There isn’t nothing in them, brother.”].

In the eighth and last stage, there is the final Resolution of the complications, which allows the final return to relative stability. As shown in (9), it is reported that Tane reverses negative feelings into positive actions, bringing peace to the conflicts.

(9) (Resolution) Tane avançou e destampou uma das cestas. Dela voaram luzes faiscantes e risonhas para todos os lados. As lágrimas de Uru haviam se transformado em crianças-luz (para nós, estrelas)!

– Uru, será que você podia me ceder duas de suas cestas? Seus filhos poderiam enfeitar e iluminar a morada de nosso pai…

Uru concordou. As duas cestas foram passadas para Te Waka o Tamareriti, uma canoa muito especial. Tane conduziu a canoa até o céu, espalhando sobre o manto de Rangi milhares de estrelinhas que riam e piscavam umas para as outras o tempo todo. Quando Tane ia pegar a segunda cesta, esta tombou e se abriu, deixando as estrelas se espalharem numa grande faixa chamada Ikaroa, que cruzou o céu de lado a lado (para nós, a Via Láctea). Tane deixou Ikaroa e Waka o Tamareriti (que é a ‘cauda’ da nossa constelação do Escorpião) no espaço celeste, onde se tornaram os guardiões das estrelas.

(9) (Resolution) Tane went on and opened one of the baskets. Leaving it, sparkling and grinning lights flew everywhere. Uru’s tears had turned into light-children (for us, stars)! “Uru, could you please give me two of your baskets? Your children could adorn and lighten the place where our father lives...” Uru agreed. The two baskets were put into Te Waka o Tamareriti, a very special canoe. Tane conducted the canoe to the sky, scattering over Rangi’s cloak thousands of little stars that laughed and twinkled to one another all the time. When Tane was about to get the second basket, it fell and opened, letting the stars scatter in a big trail called Ikaroa, which crossed the sky from end to end (for us, the Milky Way). Tane left Ikaroa and Waka o Tamareriti (which is the ‘tail’ of what we call the Scorpio constellation) in the celestial space, where they became the guardians of the stars. (LUZ, 2010, our translation).

The final Resolution was segmented into eight phases. The first phase is a solution, with the occurrence of something unexpected releasing the tension caused by previous interactions. It is the moment when Tane opens Uru’s baskets and finds that his tears were transformed into something positive, the stars. It begins with the first clause of the stage, in “Tane avançou e destampou uma das cestas [...]” [“Tane went on and opened one of the baskets [...]”], including the second clause and part of the third one, “As lágrimas de Uru haviam se transformado em crianças-luz” [“Uru’s tears had turned into light-children [...]”]. The second phase, added as a parenthesis to the first one, is a commentary, or an intrusion by the narrator to correlate the light-children to the stars in the sky “(para nós, estrelas)!” [“(for us, stars)!”]. In this clause, the narrator uses the inclusive “we/us”, positioning herself in the universe of the readers and communicating with them.

The third phase presents a new change in voice, a dialogue between the characters: “ Uru, será que você podia me ceder duas de suas cestas? Seus filhos poderiam enfeitar e iluminar a morada de nosso pai… Uru concordou” [“Uru, could you give me two of your baskets? Your children could adorn and lighten the place where our father lives... Uru agreed.”]. The fourth phase is an event, a series of successive actions and successive happenings after Uru’s positive response. This phase begins with: “As duas cestas foram passadas para Te Waka o Tamareriti, uma canoa muito especial.” [“The two baskets were put into Te Waka o Tamareriti, a very special canoe [...]”] and ends in “milhares de estrelinhas que riam e piscavam umas para as outras o tempo todo.” [“thousands of little stars that laughed and twinkled to one another all the time.”].

The fifth phase is an effect, the result of one of Tane’s actions: “Quando Tane ia pegar a segunda cesta, esta tombou e se abriu [...]” [“When Tane was about to get the second basket, it fell and opened [...]”]. Three other phases are interposed with this phase, all of which consist of the narrator’s intrusion. By using the inclusive “we/us”, the narrator makes two more commentaries – “(para nós, a Via Láctea)” [“(for us, the Milky Way)”] and “(que é a ‘cauda’ da nossa constelação do Escorpião)” [“(which is the ‘tail’ of what we call the Scorpio constellation)”] – to correlate elements of the fictional story with the actual world.

The next subsection reports on the results related to the identification of the text genre.

The genre of “The Birth of the World”

Based upon the results reported in the previous subsection to answer the first research question formulated in this study, it is suggested that “The Birth of the World”, labeled on the website Nova Escola as a “just-so story”, is a narrative, as it is possible to find all the mandatory stages in the text that define it as such. These stages are as follow (in this order): Orientation, Complication, and Resolution. It also contains an excerpt preceding the text itself and functions as an Abstract, a stage considered by the social-semiotic approach to genre as optional in narratives.

The text under scrutiny contains temporary Complications and Resolutions. Evaluation was not identified as a stage in its structure. Rothery and Stenglin (1997) state that, in this stage, the text message is usually made explicit and interpersonal meanings are abundant, which would give meaning to the disturbances of the Complication, both retrospectively and prospectively. Macken-Horarick (2003) states that the Evaluation is not a stage per se, but rather a function of the text usually diluted in its development through appraisal resources. This statement supports the observation related to the absence of Evaluation as a stage in the text analyzed in the present study.

In addition to the narrative’s own stages, the text presents notable characteristics of the genre such as the antagonism between characters. This is apparent in the patterns of feelings and actions (the feelings of Rangi and Uru, the actions of Tane), which distinguish each character’s roles in the text. Some of them have a preponderant function in the actions of Complication, while others have a preponderant function of reaction. These roles are inverted in the Resolution.

In addition to these notable characteristics allowing us to identify the text as a narrative, it is apparent that this text does not have the same patterns or structure as other genres. It is not a recount, because it does not have the Reorientation stage, which closes the story’s circle referring back to its starting point. It is not an anecdote, as it contains no emotional Reaction stage at the end. To be an exemplum, it would have to include one or more Incidents, followed by an Interpretation stage at the end, which is not the case. Finally, it is not an observation, because the intermediate stages do not provide a frozen picture of events in time.

Let us establish a parallel between the present analysis and the interpretation that Martin and Rose (2008) provide for the mythological narratives of Australian indigenous people. According to the authors, traditional stories of entirely diverse cultures, such as the classic Greek and indigenous Australian cultures, can share many elements of their generic organization, fields, and functions, to build certain ideological principles. However, despite their similarities, the value given to these stories in contemporary Western cultures is, roughly speaking, quite different. The authors state:

Greek myths are treasured as artifacts of classical European civilization, studied for their archetypal insights into human nature, while Indigenous Australian myths are generally regarded as childish explanations of physical phenomena – ‘just-so stories’. This attitude certainly has its roots in imperial propaganda that infantilized the peoples and cultures conquered by the European empires. (MARTIN; ROSE, 2008, p. 73-74).

Martin and Rose (2008) also attribute this erroneous interpretation, to some extent, to how myths work in texts, i.e., in several layers of meaning. For children and laypeople, the accessible layer is the one partially built upon people’s usual activities and emotions, partially built upon transformations into metaphysical creatures, and partially built upon the creation of landscape elements. However, for those who know these myths, the main value is in the abstract principles of natural and social order built into these stories.

Arguably, the abstract principles of “The Birth of the World” are related to the importance of union in a patriarchal family and to the conflicts generated by an eventual separation and an inversion of the hierarchical order of gender. They also include the value of peaceful conflict mediation, oriented towards the return to a stable union.

The following subsection presents the results related to the appraisal patterns of the text’s stages and phases. This is expected to corroborate (or not) that the text is a narrative.

Linguistic patterns of appraisal

The Orientation has instances of evoked judgment. All of them are positive evaluations of the characters’ behavior, most of them being male members of a Māori family. For example, Ranginui and Papatuanuku are related to the functions of Father and Mother and the physical nature (Sky and Earth, respectively) which reinforces their grandiosity. They have the natural functions of the masculine and the feminine genders, as parents of the entire world, “Pai Céu” [“Sky Father”] and “Mãe Terra” [“Earth Mother”] (judgment). This status, which is also a status of power, is emphasized, in the setting, when it is said that “tiveram muitos filhos” [“they had many children”], with graduation of force (“muitos” [“many”]). Besides, all their children except one are “deuses” [“gods”] (judgment), which elevates them socially. There is also a negative evaluation of the only child who is “god of nothing”, with graduation of force (“de nada” [“of nothing”]) in opposition to the others.

The Orientation also contains several instances of appreciation. The first is an explicit appraisal resource, i.e., inscribed and negative evaluations that refer to the space prior to the creation of the world: “a energia, vagando na escuridão do espaço infinito” [“the energy, wandering in darkness in infinite space”]. It is possible to infer that there is graduation of force in “infinito” [“infinite”], which seems to raise the darkness of the universe. The next instances are found in “viviam num perpétuo abraço de amantes” [“lived in an eternal hug of lovers”], realized by the italicized resources, which contain positive and evoked appreciation,¹³: raised by graduation of force in “perpétuo” [“eternal”] and positive inscribed affect in “amantes” [“lovers”]. The others are in the problem phase. The word “apaixonado” [“loving”] in “esse enlace apaixonado” [“this loving embrace”] is an instance of positive inscribed affect, and “não deixava a luz penetrar” [“did not allow light to pass through”] is an instance of negative evoked appreciation. The appreciation is opposed to the affect instantiated in the same clause, prosodically reiterating darkness as a result of an eternal and loving hug.

The first Complication predominantly contains affect and judgment. It is the moment when the children become conscious of the discomfort of living in a cramped space under their parents’ hug. In the first phase of this stage, the trigger for negative emotions (evoked affect) are the conscience of darkness and discomfort for being together under their parents. This is the excerpt that instantiates these effects: “Obrigados a viver apertados e sempre no escuro, os jovens resolveram dar um basta na situação.” [“Forced to live in a cramped place and always in darkness, the children decided to put an end to this situation.” In the phase where a change in voice occurs, there are evoked judgments impacting their proposals of reaction to the situation, one of them negative – killing their parents – and the other one positive and softened (graduation) – separating them. These appraisal resources are shown in the following excerpt: “– Vamos matar Rangi e Papa e ficar livres deles! – disse Tumatauenga. – Não! – disse Tane. – Vamos apenas separá-los, empurrando um para cima e deixando o outro embaixo.” [“Let’s kill Rangi and Papa and get rid of them!”, said Tumatauenga. “No!”, said Tane, “Let’s just separate them, pushing one of them above the other.”] Finally, there is positive evoked appreciation in “Assim sobrará espaço para nós e a luz vai poder entrar.” [“This way, there will be enough space left for us, and light will come in.”].

In the first temporary Resolution, there are four instances of attitude – one of them is appreciation, while the other three are judgment. All of them are raised by graduation of force. In this phase, an instance of positive inscribed appreciation is found in Tane’s idea (“Todos acharam a ideia excelente.” [“Everyone thought it was an excellent idea.”]). In contrast, in the next phase, of effect, the evaluations of Tane’s behavior (inscribed judgment) – “era o mais forte de todos” [“was the strongest of all”], “firmou bem” [“stomped quite firmly”], “empurrou para cima com toda força” [“pushed him up with all his strength”] – are all positive. The first and last ones are inscribed, whereas the other one is evoked, but all of them are intensified by a raise in graduation (“o mais forte” [“the strongest of all”, “firmou bem” [“stomped quite firmly”], “toda a força” [“all his strength”]).

In the comment, interposed with the problem of the second Complication, there is an instance of negative inscribed affect (dissatisfaction) related to the frustration for not meeting an expected goal: “Os pais se separaram, mas, – oh, decepção! – só um pouco de luz chegou ao mundo dos filhos” [“The parents were separated, but – oh, what a disappointment! – just a little bit of light came to the world of the children.”]. In the problem phase, there is another instance of negative evoked appreciation, of low graduation (“[...] just a little bit of light came to the world of the children” [“[…] só um pouco de luz chegou ao mundo dos filhos”]), which receives the prosodic effect by propagation of the negative loading of the affect in the beginning of the stage, and dissolves the children’s expectations about this action (“just a little bit of light” [“só um pouco de luz”]). There are instances of negative evoked affect, in which the Father or the Mother are the emotive, and the separation being the trigger: “estavam nus e, longe um do outro, sentiam frio” [“were naked and, being away from each other, they were cold”].

The second temporary Resolution has several instances of attitude. In the first phase, there are a number of instances of positive attitude, three of which are raised in graduation. Only one of the positive instances is inscribed affect: “Comovido com a situação […]” [“Moved by the situation [...]”]. The other ones are mostly POSITIVE and EVOKED AFFECT: “[…] abrigou o pai com o negro manto da noite.” [“[...] covered the father with the black cloak of the night”]; “Para a mãe fez um vestido, com as mais verdes e tenras folhas e as flores mais coloridas.” [“For the mother, he made a dress with the greenest and most tender leaves and the most colorful flowers’’]; “Em torno dela fez ondular as águas azuis dos mares e rios de Tangaroa.” [“Around her, he made waves with the blue waters of the seas and rivers of Tangaroa.”]. The last one, “Os ventos de Tawhirmatea sopravam suavemente seus cabelos.” [“The winds of Tawhirmatea blew gently through her hair.”], is positive inscribed appreciation. Many of these attitudinal resources are raised (“mais verdes” [“the greenest”] and “mais coloridas” [“most colorful”]) or lowered (“tenras” [“tender”] and “suavemente” [“gently”]) in graduation.

In the last stage of Complication, there are instances of affect, judgement, and appreciation in the first phase. The first instance is negative inscribed affect (“dor” [“pain”]), and the second instance is negative evoked affect (“úmida e cinzenta” ]“humid gray”]). These are expressed in: “Sua dor cobriu o mundo com uma névoa úmida e cinzenta.” [“His pain covered the whole world with a humid gray fog.”]. An instance of positive inscribed appreciation occurs in: “Olhando lá de cima os lindos trajes da mulher.” [“Seeing from above the woman’s beautiful garments.”]. These appraisal items are high (“cobriu o mundo” [“covered the whole world”], “lindo” [“beautiful”]) or low (“úmida” [“humid”]) in graduation of force, and sharp in graduation of focus (“cinzenta” [“gray”]). In “Uru chorava e chorava por não ter sido útil em nada aos pais e aos irmãos” [“Uru cried and cried for not being useful for his parents and siblings in anything”], there are two instances of attitude. The first one is a negative inscribed affect, “chorava e chorava” [“cried and cried”], and high in graduation of force due to the repetition of the lexical item “chorava” [“cried”]; the second one is Uru’s negative inscribed judgement (“útil” [“useful”]) and low in graduation of force (“em nada” [“in anything”]).

This stage presents other instances of attitude. Uru judges himself, and the resource instantiated for this is negative evoked judgment (“Nada tenho” [“I have nothing”]). He also judges his brother (“bem sabe” [“You know that well”]). These instances have lowered and raised graduation of force, respectively: “Nada tenho para dar, você bem sabe!” [“I have nothing to give you. You know that well!”]. The other attitudinal instances are negative inscribed affect (“surpreso” [“surprised”], “medo” [“afraid”]) and inscribed and evoked judgment (“fraqueza” [“weakness”], “abaixou a cabeça” [“lowered his head”]), both negative, in this order in the clause: “Surpreso e com medo de ser descoberto em sua fraqueza, Uru abaixou a cabeça.” [“Surprised and afraid of having his weakness found out, Uru lowered his head.” Finally, there is an instance of negative inscribed appreciation in which Uru evaluates the baskets with increase in graduation (“nothing”) – “– Não tem nada dentro delas, irmão.” [“There isn’t nothing in them, brother.”] – which simultaneously represents him as a liar, instantiating a negative evoked judgment.

The narrative ends with the third and last stage of Resolution. The configuration of this stage shows instances of appreciation, judgement and affect, some evoked and some inscribed, all with positive loading. Some of these items are intensified by graduation. For example: “Dela voaram luzes faiscantes e risonhas para todos os lados.” [“From there, sparkling and grinning lights flew everywhere.”] Positive inscribed appreciation (“faiscantes” [“sparkling”], risonhas [“grinning”]), with raised graduation of force (“todos os lados” [“everywhere”]). Finally, in “As duas cestas foram passadas para Te Waka e Tamareriti, uma canoa muito especial. Tane conduziu a canoa até o céu, espalhando sobre o manto de Rangi milhares de estrelinhas que riam e piscavam umas para as outras o tempo todo.” [“The two baskets were put into Te Waka o Tamareriti, a very special canoe. Tane conducted the canoe to the sky, scattering over Rangi’s cloak thousands of little stars that laughed and twinkled to one another all the time.”], there are instances of positive inscribed appreciation (“especial”, “special”) and instances of inscribed and evoked positive affect, respectively (“riam” [“laughed”], “piscavam” [“twinkled”]). In these two clauses, there are raised graduation of force items (“muito” [“very”], “milhares” [“thousands”], “riam” [“laughed”], “o tempo todo” [“all the time”]) alongside the attitudinal items.

To answer the third and last research question (Can we identify patterns of different appraisal resources throughout the text?), Table 4 provides a summary of the configuration of appraisal resources in “The Birth of the World”.

Table 4
Appraisal configuration of the narrative’s stages

Stage	Appraisal resource configuration
Orientation	Positive evoked judgment prevails despite an instance of negative judgment. After that, there are instances of appreciation, both negative and positive. There is a positive inscribed effect. The attitudinal resources are intensified four times through graduation of force.
Complication 1	Judgements prevail; half of them are negative, and the other half are positive. The second most frequent resources are affect, all of them negative and evoked.
Resolution 1	Positive judgements prevail, followed by positive appreciation. They are all intensified through graduation of force.
Complication 2	Negative affect prevails, followed by negative evoked appreciation. appreciation is lowered in graduation of force.
Resolution 2	Positive evoked effect prevails, followed by positive inscribed appreciation, with two raised graduations and one lowered graduation. There is also one instance of positive inscribed effect.
Final complication	Instances of negative affect (most of which inscribed) and of negative judgment (half of them evoked, and the other half inscribed) prevail. Inscribed appreciations are the next most frequent resource. These resources are graduated, twice by force and once by focus.
Final resolution	Positive inscribed appreciation prevails, followed by affect and judgment, both positive. Some of these attitudinal marks are raised by graduation of force.

• Source: Author’s elaboration.

The appraisal configuration of the narrative under scrutiny is variable, with a predominance of instances of judgment and affect, followed by instances of appreciation, in some cases intensified by graduation. This finding is consistent with Martin and Rose (2008), who point to the tendency of narratives to present a variable appraisal configuration. Additionally, the results show that characters’ emotions (affect) and the need to evaluate their behavior (judgment) were emphasized in the narrative. They also confirm Rothery and Stenglin (1997), who claim the main functions of the narrative are entertainment and, at the same time, instruction of culturally accepted or rejected forms.

Final remarks

This study set out to accomplish the three objectives related to the research questions proposed in the Introduction. Firstly, it intended to identify the stages and phases of the Brazilian-Portuguese-language text “The Birth of the World”, classified as a “just-so story” of the Māori people on the website Nova Escola. This step of the analysis followed the theoretical and methodological path designed by Martin and Rose (2008) and Rothery and Stenglin (1997) within Halliday’s Systemic-Functional Linguistics. Secondly, the study sought to identify the genre to which the text belongs by segmenting it into stages and following the descriptions provided by Martin and Rose (2008). Thirdly, this work intended to identify the configuration of the patterns of appraisal resources (MARTIN; WHITE, 2005) in the text stages and phases to confirm the status of the genre previously identified. The theoretical framework and the methodology were effective to reach these objectives.

As a result, the stages were identified as follows: (Abstract) ꓥ Orientation ꓥ Complication ꓥ Temporary resolution ꓥ Complication ꓥ Temporary resolution ꓥ Complication ꓥ Resolution. Each stage had its phases delimited. Then, the text was identified as a narrative, as it is composed of the three main stages considered of narrative: Orientation, Complication, and Resolution, which are developed in phases compatible with the ones described by Martin and Rose (2008) and Macken-Horarik (2003). These phases have the typical characteristics allowing a narrative to unfold and move forward. Thus, the text fulfills the purpose of the narrative as a story and has typical attributes of a narrative, a genre that focuses on conflicts between participants and solutions to solve them.

Finally, the stages and phases showed patterns of appraisal which helped delimit them based on their functions and characteristics. The analysis pointed to the predominance of attitudinal resources, particularly judgment and affect (dominant in three stages), which can reflect the objective of the text to show culturally accepted behaviors, and, simultaneously, express emotions. Appreciation resources prevail in one stage, Final resolution, as shown in Table 4. However, in several stages, there are varied instances of these three resources. Besides, the text presented instances of graduation in five out of the seven stages, which intensified and quantified the terms used to express feelings, whether ethical, aesthetic, or affective.

Therefore, this article contributes with an analysis suggesting that the so-called “just-so story” texts produced by, or rewritten from, autochthonous cultures are in fact narratives. It also contributes, alongside works published in Brazil, to the dissemination of the academic domain of social-semiotic and semantic-discourse approaches to genre as posited by Martin and Rose (2008) and Rothery and Stengling (1997), among others. Finally, further research is needed to analyze and identify other texts that are usually ascribed other generic labels in the culture by drawing upon the theoretical approach adopted in the present article.

Acknowledgments

The author is thankful to the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) for funding this research through project PQ 302123/2017-2.

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• 1
  Available at: https://novaescola.org.br/conteudo/3205/o-nascimento-do-mundo. Access on: 10 nov. 2022. In this period of 16 years, the webpage data might have been updated, including genre label ascribed to the text: a “just-so story” by the Māori people, retold by Maria de la Luz and illustrated by Kipper.
• 2
  The text analyzed in this article is presented separately, as its choice is not considered a methodological procedure.
• 3
  Martin and Rose (2008) also identified other optional stages, such as Orientation at the beginning and Coda at the end of some of these genres.
• 4
  For a more comprehensive approach of the other genres, see Silva (2018), among others.
• 5
  The stages are capitalized, while the phases are usually written in lowercase.
• 6
  The names of systems are written in small capitals whenever references are made to the systems themselves.
• 7
  A “system network” is “an extensive network of options in meaning that are realized lexically – a resource for making meaning.” (MATTHIESSEN; TERUYA; LAM, 2010, p. 32). In tune with Martin and White (2005), the term “system” is used for any system in the network of systems.
• 8
  Original: “a Educação pública brasileira e possibilitar que os alunos desenvolvam o máximo do seu potencial”. Available at: https://novaescola.org.br/conteudo/3205/o-nascimento-do-mundo. Access on: 10 nov. 2022.
• 9
  Available at: https://www.newzealand.com/br/maori-culture. Access on: 15 Jan. 2021.
• 10
  Original: “[…] adotassem uma atitude de reverência e assombro para com o mar (e talvez explique por que muitos de seus mitos contêm temas de viagem, perda e separação)”. Available at: https://www.egali.com.br/blog/quem-sao-os-maoris/#:~:text=Os%20primeiros%20colonizadores%20maori%20chegaram,habitar%20ilhas%20como%20o%20Hava%C3%AD. Access on: 21 Jan. 2021.
• 11
  Rothery and Stenglin (1997) was previously mentioned to explain that optional stages are written in parentheses.
• 12
  Translations are provided as literal as possible to allow readers to understand the linguistic features of Brazilian Portuguese to which the author refers in her analysis.
• 13
  We can observe that all evoked attitudinal resources found in the text are either metaphorical or originally ideational resources; the last ones receive the appraisal propagation of inscribed resources realized in the text development.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  06 Jan 2023
• Date of issue
  2022

History

• Received
  20 May 2021
• Accepted
  07 Dec 2021