1. THEMATIC AND INFORMATION STRUCTURES
TEXTUAL EQUIVALENCE
THEMATIC AND INFORMATION STRUCTURES

2. WORD ORDER
WORD ORDER (linear arrangement of linguistic elements) : . textual strategy that controls information flow . contributes to the processing of information . contributes to the organization of messages at text level

3. Various formulations are available for expressing a given message, BUT
speaker/writer will select one that makes the flow of information clearer in a given context. Necessary to think of CLAUSE as a MESSAGE, not just as a string of grammatical + lexical elements

4. CLAUSE AS MESSAGE CAN BE ANALYSED IN TERMS OF:
THEMATIC INFORMATION STRUCTURE STRUCTURE

5. HALLIDAY’s APPROACH to THEMATIC STRUCTURE
A CLAUSE CONSISTS OF TWO ELEMENTS: THEME: - the FIRST segment of the clause - what the clause is about (TOPIC) RHEME: - the SECOND segment of the clause - WHAT the speaker says ABOUT THE THEME - the GOAL of discourse

6. THEME acts as the information that it fulfils the communicative
point of orientation by connecting point of departure by connecting
back to previous stretches of forward and contributing to the
discourse and maintaining a development of later stretches
coherent point of view
RHEME
the information that it fulfils the communicative
the speaker wants to convey purpose of the utterance

7. * CONJUNCTIONS = not part of PROPOSITIONAL MEANING of the message.
EXAMPLE: Aristotle thought that the earth was stationary and that the sun, the moon, the planets and the stars moved in circular orbits about the earth.
Aristotle (T1) thought that…(R1)
He (T1) believed this… (R1)
T Aristotle
thought that
t2 the earth
R r2 was stationary (and that)*
t3 the sun, the moon, the planets and the stars
r3 moved in circular orbits about the earth.
* CONJUNCTIONS = not part of PROPOSITIONAL MEANING of the message.

8. THEMATIC STRUCTURE:
text organization and development If theme represents the speaker’s point of departure in each clause > more important organizational role than rheme. E.G. travel brochures in English often characterized by place adjuncts in theme position > location = natural point of orientation around which the text can be organized.

9. marked vs unmarked sequences
MARKED THEME: EMPHASIS = TOPIC OF A CLAUSE OR ITS POINT OF DEPARTURE local, temporary prominence within the clause, BUT RHEME is prominent on an overall discourse level (core of the message) Thematic choice = selecting a clause element (subject, object, predicator, complement, adjunct) as theme and fronting it >>> speaker’s point of departure THE MORE OBLIGATORY AN ELEMENT, THE LESS MARKED and VICEVERSA. e.g. most ADJECTIVES before nouns in English > no particular meaning (not the result of choice) But TIME or PLACE ADVERBIALS > fairly mobile, so their fronting carries more meaning (result of choice). THE LESS EXPECTED A CHOICE, THE MORE MARKED IT IS > MORE MEANING (but strongly marked choices need to be motivated)

10. MARKED THEMES IN ENGLISH IDENTIFYING FRONTED THEME THEME
PREDICATED THEME
IDENTIFYING
THEME

11. FRONTED THEME Fronting PREDICATOR Fronting OBJECT /
TIME / PLACE adjunct
(In China the book received
a lot of publicity. /
Three hours later a note
came from the officer.)
If repeated, it signals
POINT OF ORIENTATION /
METHOD OF
DEVELOPMENT
Fronting OBJECT /
COMPLEMENT
(A lot of publicity the
book received in China;
Well publicized the book
was.)
Fronting PREDICATOR
(most marked choice)
(They promised to
Publicize the book in
China, and publicize it
they did.)

12. PREDICATED THEME Use of It-structure (also cleft structure) IT =
empty subject:
element
placed near the
beginning of a
clause and
interpreted as
its theme
Example:
It was in China
that the book
received a lot of
publicity
> CONTRAST)
of it-structure =
what occurs
after verb “be”

13. IDENTIFYING THEME NOMINALIZATION: using wh-structure (pseudo-cleft
Examples:
What the book received
in China was a lot of
publicity //
What was received by
the book in China was
a lot of publicity
IMPLICIT CONTRAST:
The item in rheme
position is the element
(among many) I want
my reader to pay
attention to.

14. WHEN TRANSLATING:
Sometimes the thematic pattern of the ST can be maintained in the TT without distorting the naturalness of the TL
Sometimes it cannot be preserved without distorting the TT
Sometimes Halliday’s model does not apply