Cosmogonic Myth Through Systemic Functional Linguistics [17]

Genesis (1:31):

31. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic theory, this symbolism from Abrahamic mythology can be interpreted as further construing the genesis of construing experience as meaning through language.

The first clause of the final verse of Genesis 1 construes all phenomena as a domain of the mental perception of the creator of meaning:

and	God	saw	every thing that he had made
	Senser	Process: mental	Phenomenon

That is to say, everything that the creator of meaning sees is what language construes of experience as meaning.

The second clause attributes a positive value (attitude) to all phenomena:

and	behold	it	was	very good
		Carrier	Process: relational	Attribute

This completes the ascription of interpersonal values (attitudes) to experiential phenomena by the creator of meaning; cf the notion of 'categorising on value' in the neuroscience (TNGS) of Edelman (1992).