Mapping theme in student writing Daniel Kies Professor Emeritus College of DuPage Mapping theme in student writing Daniel Kies Professor Emeritus College of DuPage CCCC 2018 / Kansas City 1/16

Theme/rheme: definitions Theme comprises all the words in a clause or sentence before the finite verb. Rheme is the rest of the clause/sentence. Functionally, point of departure of clause as message, and focuses the reader’s attention. Theme/rheme and given/new: Theme generally conveys old, given, known, less important information. Rheme conveys the new, unknown, more important information. Halliday (1967) CCCC 2018 / Kansas City 2/16

Theme/rheme: Fenton example CCCC 2018 / Kansas City 3/16

Theme/rheme: Twain example CCCC 2018 / Kansas City 4/16

František Daneš & FSP František Daneš (1974) hypothesized that (three main types of) thematic progression created the ordering of information in discourse. Thematic progression gave Functional Sentence Perspective (FSP) – a major development of the Prague School of linguistics – its first functional explanation of how theme and rheme contributed to coherence in language. CCCC 2018 / Kansas City 5/16

Thematic progression Totalitarianism: Total Control of a Society through Manipulation of Language and Thought In George Orwell’s book 1984, he demonstrates an example of total control of a society through fear, media, and manipulation of language and thought, all of which is monitored by an entity referred to as Big Brother. In this paper, I am going to relate this to current day North Korea, and the lifestyle imposed on its people by its current ruler Kim Jong-Un. My thesis is as follows; The People of North Korea are able to be controlled physically, mentally, and emotionally through manipulation of language and limitations on global communication. In a nutshell, I am proposing that North Korea’s current form of government in control has completely manipulated its society to believe whatever it wants through tactically implanted cultural ethics and restrictions. An apposition-al rephras-ing of the thesis. CCCC 2018 / Kansas City 6/16

Theme, genre, and stance “The literacy practices of a disciplinary community embody different orientations to knowledge constructions. … The initial constituent of a clause appears to have particular significance in the way it reflects the writer’s beliefs and values, and thus provides an indicator of disciplinary differences in professional academic writing.” (North, 2005, p. 435) CCCC 2018 / Kansas City 7/16

Earlier studies: theme | modality Earlier theme studies explored FY writers’ attempts to interact with the audience (or the material) interpersonally by shaping the patterns of their themes (Ebeling and Wickens, 2012; Hewings, 2004; North, 2005). Aull and Lancaster (2014) examined FYW’s use of hedges and boosters (modality and the language of certitude) as well as adversative/contrast connectors and code glosses (e.g., markers of exemplifying). CCCC 2018 / Kansas City 8/16

Thematic use of certainty Whereas Aull and Lancaster (2014) demonstrate the different uses of hedges (modality) and boosters (the language of certitude) in the work of FYW and academic writers, they do not consider the semantic or pragmatic intersection of those features. This presentation posits that features of modality and the language of certitude interact in FYW, creating a semantic space largely occupied by the FY writers. CCCC 2018 / Kansas City 9/16

Theme and modality 1/2 CCCC 2018 / Kansas City 10/16

Theme and modality 2/2 CCCC 2018 / Kansas City 11/16

Theme and evidence 1/2 Consider the following sentence using the marker of evidentiality obviously. Rex is upset because obviously Don doesn’t care about anything. This evidential marker is ambiguous: is it obvious to Rex? to Don? to the writer of the sentence? to all? or just to some? Readers/listeners disambiguate such markers through context, and in SFL such words are known as markers of evidential projection, since the marker logically entails the existence of some evidence. CCCC 2018 / Kansas City 12/16

Theme and evidence 2/2 CCCC 2018 / Kansas City 13/16

Intersection of markers of modality and of evidence in FYW and COCA/A Conclusion Intersection of markers of modality and of evidence in FYW and COCA/A more evidential projection but less evidence language of certitude FYW modality requirement ~~~~~~~~~~~ volition COCA/A likelihood less evidential projection and more evidence CCCC 2018 / Kansas City 14/16

Discussion What seems to be the origins of these patterns? Confusing hedging with uncertainty, a discursive weakness The desire (perhaps the need) to sound authoritative As teachers, what can we do? Exercises on COCA Teaching students to use the “Find” function while drafting CCCC 2018 / Kansas City 15/16

References Aull, L., and Lancaster, Z. (2014). Linguistic markers of stance in early and advanced academic writing: A corpus-based comparison. Written Communication, 31(2), 151-183. Daneš, F. (1974). Functional sentence perspective and the organization of the text. In F. Daneš, ed. Papers on Functional Sentence Perspective (106-128). Prague: Academia /The Hague: Mouton. Ebeling, S. O., and Wickens, P. (2012). Interpersonal themes and author stance in student writing. Language and Computers, 74(1), 23-40. Halliday, M. A. K. (1967–68). "Notes on transitivity and theme in English" (Part 1–3). Journal of Linguistics, 3(1), 37–81; 3(2), 199–244; 4(2), 179- 215. Hewings, A. (2004). Developing discipline-specific writing: An analysis of undergraduate geography essays. In L. J. Ravelli & R. A. Ellis (Eds.), Analysing Academic Writing: Contextualized Frameworks (pp. 131-152): Continuum. North, S. (2005). Disciplinary variation in the use of theme in undergraduate essays. Applied Linguistics, 26, 431-452. CCCC 2018 / Kansas City 16/16