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Language Means of Expressing Theme and Rheme

This document discusses the linguistic concepts of theme, rheme, focality, and topicality in sentences. It explains that the theme expresses the starting point of communication and can be expressed by the subject or predicate, while the rheme expresses the main information and can be expressed by the predicate or subject. Focality refers to the most important or salient parts of what is said about the topic, while topicality characterizes the topic or thing being discussed. Special treatment, such as intonation, is given to topical or focal elements in a sentence. There are different types of focus based on the scope or communicative point, and focus can be used in questions, contrasts, or to replace, expand

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Iva Koutná
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469 views18 pages

Language Means of Expressing Theme and Rheme

This document discusses the linguistic concepts of theme, rheme, focality, and topicality in sentences. It explains that the theme expresses the starting point of communication and can be expressed by the subject or predicate, while the rheme expresses the main information and can be expressed by the predicate or subject. Focality refers to the most important or salient parts of what is said about the topic, while topicality characterizes the topic or thing being discussed. Special treatment, such as intonation, is given to topical or focal elements in a sentence. There are different types of focus based on the scope or communicative point, and focus can be used in questions, contrasts, or to replace, expand

Uploaded by

Iva Koutná
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPS, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Language means of expressing

theme and rheme. Focality


and topicality.
, . . .., 2, 2009.

The theme
expresses the
starting point of
the
communication

The rheme
expresses the
basic
informative part
of the
communication

The theme of the


actual division of
the sentence
may or may not
coincide with the
subject of the
sentence.

The rheme of the


actual division, in
its turn, may or
may not coincide
with the predicate
of the sentence
either with the
whole predicate
group or its part,
such as the
predicative, the
object, the
adverbial.

Ex. 1. The theme is expressed by the


subject, while the rheme is expressed by
the predicate:

Stewie didnt like his breakfast

Again Homer is being happy!

Ex. 2. The theme is expressed by the


predicate or its part, while the rheme
is rendered by the subject:

Through the open window came the


sound of an approaching police car.

Who is coming late but the Rabbit!

Formal means of expressing the distinction


between the theme and the rheme:

word-order patterns
intonation contours
constructions with introducers
syntactic patterns of contrastive
complexes
constructions with articles and other
determiners
constructions with intensifying particles

Focality and topicality.

topicality
characterizing
the things we
talk about

focality
characterizing
the most
important or
salient parts of
what we say
about the topical
things

Special distinctive treatment is


given to some topical or focal
element, we assign it the
pragmatic function of Topic
(topicality) or Focus (focality)

Different types of focus according to


SCOPE (= what part of the underlying
clause structure is in focus):
I did not buy a bike, I bought a car
(argument)
I did not paint the house, I sold it
(predicate)
Peter did not solve the problem (operator)

Different types of focus according to


COMMUNICATIVE POINT (= what
pragmatic reasons underlie the
assignment of Focus to the relevant part
of the underlying clause structure):
Q-word- and yes/no-question-answer pairs
(completive / new)

Contrastive focus:
John and Bill came to see me. John was
nice, but Bill was boring (parallel)

counter-presuppositional
types of focus:
Replacing:

John bought coffee.


No, he bought rice.
John grows potatoes.
No, he doesnt grow
them, he sells them.

Expanding:
John bought
coffee, but he
also bought rice.
He is not only
going to buy
bananas, hes
also going to sell
them.

Restricting:
John bought coffee and rice. No,
he only bought coffee.
It seems John grows and sells
potatoes. No, he only sells them.

Selecting:
Would you like coffee or tea?
Coffee, please.

Thank you!
Herzen University 2009
Karavayeva Lidia

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