36-37_FSP(Theme,rheme)

36. Functional Sentence Perspective

FSP – actual diversion of the sentences – a special type of discourse (дискурс) analysis concerned with the communicative function of utterance in a given sentence.

FSP analysis is based on the informative value of different sentence elements. The theory of FSP was worked out by representatives of the Prague school of linguistics V.Mathesius, J.Firbas and others.

It has been noticed that different sentence parts are not identical n their communicative value. As a rule we may distinguish two parts in a sentence from this viewpoint: one part indicating the starting point of the statement, and the other the new information for the sake of which the sentence has been uttered or written.

This method deals with the arrangement of the theme & rheme in an utterance. The theme – is a part expressing smth known to the listener & a speaker. The rheme – is a pert containing view info proper.

The theme - the part of the proposition that is being talked about (predicated), expresses the starting point of communication; it means that it denotes an object or a phenomenon about which something is reported. Once stated, the theme is therefore "old news", i.e. the things already mentioned and understood.

The rheme – the predicate that gives new information on the topic. The rheme expresses the basic informative part of the communication, emphasizing its contextually relevant centre.

There are several linguistic means (phonetic, lexical, morphological and syntactical) which are used to signal the rheme and theme.

• Phonetic signals include stress, pauses and intonation: Mary left for ‘London; Mary ‘left for London (different accents underline new information); “The stairs … opening the door … my surprise that no one was there” (R. Gordon. Doctor in the house) – here pauses between clauses make all of them rhematic.

• Morphologically the rheme and the theme may be signaled by the definite (theme) and the indefinite articles or no article (rheme). The was a river near the houses vs. The river was near the house.

• Syntactic means include word order and number of different syntactic constructions.

1) New information becomes prominetnt in cases of subject-predicate inversion with opening adverbials: “Here comes the first question”.

2) W.o. – objectve (the theme preceds the rheme) subjective (the rheme preceds the theme).

3) Syntactic constructions “there is”, “it is … that” … (also it is … who, it is … which) serve to point out the rheme: “There are several students in the room”.

Language means of expressing the theme:

- Stating it explicitly as the subject (which tends to be considered more topic like by the speakers).

- Using passive voice to transform an object into a subject (for the above reason).

- Emphasizing the topic using clefting: It's Joey (whom) we're looking for. It's money that I love. I.e. a complex sentence (one having a main clause and a dependent clause) that has a meaning that could be expressed by a simple sentence.

- Through periphrastic constructions like "As for...", "Speaking of...", etc.

- Using left dislocation (called topic fronting or topicalization, i. e. moving the topic to the beginning of the sentence).

- The definite article (morphological means)

Means to express the rheme:

• a particular word order with a specific intonation contour (Phonetic means: stress, pauses and intonation)

• an emphatic construction (“there is”, “it is … that”… it is … who, it is … which)

• a contrastive complex

• intensifying particles

• the indefinite article (morphological means)

• ellipsis

• graphical means.

• lexical means: even, just, only