Transcript More on Thematic Structure

More on Thematic Structure
Lecture 5
Peter Fries's article
 Definitions of Theme:
 "Technical" definition: The first experiential
element in a clause (process, participant, or
circumstance) + any element(s) preceding it.
 Funtional definitions: "the peg on which the
message is hung", "the starting point of the clause
as message", "the orientation", "the element that
sets up a local context for the clause as message" >These functions are realized by first position in
English.
Peter Fries's article
 Components of Theme: Experiential: topical (participant
/ process / circumstance)
Interpersonal:
vocative
modal (Adjunct)
finite (operator)
WH- (interrogative)
Peter Fries's article
 Textual: continuative
structural (conjunction or WH-relative)
conjunctive (Adjunct)
 Maximally extended Theme (Halliday 1994:55)
Peter Fries's article
 T-unit
a major clause with embedded and hypotactic
dependent clauses. This may be the same as a
clause complex, or less than a clause complex.
(Paratactic main clauses will count as two T-units.)
The T-unit is useful in Thematic analysis, and it seems
to allow dependent clauses to be Themes in the Tunit.
Also facilitates comparisons between speech and
writing.
Peter Fries's article
 N-Rheme
the opposite of Theme, i.e. the last experiential
element in the clause. This is typically the locus of
new information.
Peter Fries's article
 Thematic progression
 Simple linear (chained): T1 -> R1. R1=T2. T2 -> R2.
R2=T3.
 One evening in spring, a man and a woman moved
into a new house. Just outside their door there was a
garden. It was a pretty garden, with flowers and grass
and even a tree.
Peter Fries's article
 Thematic progression
 Continuous/constant theme (topically linked): T1 -> R1.
T1-> R2. T1 -> R3.
 Text 1:
Once upon a time three bears lived in a house in the
woods. There was a great big bear, a medium-sized
bear and a little, small wee bear. All the bears like
porridge and had their own special porridge bowls.
The great big bear had a great big bowl; the mediumsized bear had a medium-sized bowl; and the little,
small wee bear had a teeny, weeny bowl.
Peter Fries's article
 Thematic Progression with derived themes:
Hypertheme (superordinate term to which all the
themes relate)
 The word operetta, derived from the Italian,
means literally "little opera." The progenitors of
operetta were The Beggar's Opera (1728), an
English ballad opera with a text by John Gay and a
score of popular songs and folk tunes, and La
Serva Padrona (The Maid-Mistress, 1733), a work
by the Italian composer Giovanni Pergolesi.
Thematic progression
 The German Singspiel also influenced operetta,
because, like ballad opera, it combined music and
songs with spoken dialogue. This combination of
songs and dialogue still distinguishes operetta from
opera, in which dialogue is usually set in recitative, a
style of musical declamation midway between
speaking and singing.
Possible functions of Theme in text
development
 Fries's hypotheses
1. different patterns of Thematic progression
correlate with different genres, i.e. patterns of
thematic progression do not occur randomly but
are sensitive to genre; and
2. the experiential content of Themes correlates
with what is perceived to be the method of
development of a text or text segment. (Fries
1981)
Possible functions of Theme in text
development
1.
2.
the experiential content of Themes correlates with
different genres, and
the experiential content of the Themes of a text
correlates with different generic elements of
structure within a text. (Fries 1995)
End of Lecture 5
Thank you
for your kind attention!