Prepositional Phrases As Mini Relational Clauses

Matthiessen (1995: 626):

In contrast, prepositional phrases are mini-clauses, more specifically mini relational clauses — shrunken clauses (see IFG Ch. 6).

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, for Halliday (1994: 151-2), a prepositional phrase is like a relational or verbal clause:

For the present discussion, what is important is the notion of ‘circumstance’ as a kind of additional minor process, subsidiary to the main one, but embodying some of the features of a relational or verbal process, and so introducing a further entity as an indirect participant in the clause.