An Introduction to Discourse Analysis Lecture 7

AnIntroductiontoDiscourseAnalysisLecture7ChengXiaotangBeijingNormalUniversityLecture7Discoursestructure:atthemicrolevelThematicstructureInformationstructureThemeandRhemeAccordingtosystemicfunctionallinguistics(SFL),theEnglishclauseconsistsoftwoelements,theThemeandtheRheme.TheThemeisthepointofdepartureofthemessage;itisusuallywhattheclauseisconcernedwith.TheRhemeistheremainderofthemessage;itprovidesinformationabouttheTheme.Examples:theunderlinedpartisTheme,theremainingpartisRheme.Collegelifeshouldbevariedandcolourful.Studentsshouldtakepartinextracurricularactivities.Bytakingpartinextracurricularactivities,studentscanenrichtheirknowledge.ThearrangementofThemeandRhemeintheclausehelpstoconveyintendedmeaning.Thethematicstructureorganizesthemessageintheclausethroughthematicprogression.ThematicprogressiontheThemesandRhemesinclausesareinterrelatedwitheachother.Forexample,theTheme(orpartofit)inaprecedingclauseoftencontinuestobetheThemeortheRhemeinthefollowingclause,andtheRheme(orpartofit)isoftenpickedupastheThemeortheRhemeinthenextclause,thusformingathematicprogressionpatternamongsuccessiveclauses.ExamplesThebookyoulentmeisveryinteresting.Itisreallyworthreading.YesterdayIsawMichael.Hedidn’tseemtobeveryhappy.TomandPeterdecidedtovisitaremotevillage.However,theirexpeditiondidnotgoasexpected.ExamplesofEFLwritingCollegelifeshouldbevariedandcolorful.Onlytakingcoursesandburyingourselvesinstudyissurelynotouridealcollegelife.Whiletakingpartinextracurricularactivitiesisanimportantmeanstoachievesuchlife.T1--------R1T2--------R2T3--------R3ExamplerevisedCollegelifeshouldbevariedandcolorful.However,suchlifecannotbeachievedifwecollegestudentsonlytakecoursesandburyourselvesinstudy.Apartfromstudying,weshouldalsotakepartinextracurricularactivities.T1--------R1T2--------R2T3--------R3ThechoiceofThemeThechoiceoftheThemehasanimportantroleinconstruingmeaning.InHalliday’swords,“partofthemeaningofanyclauseliesinwhichelementischosenasitsTheme”(Halliday,1994:38).Examples[1]NewYorkwasthefirstcapitaloftheUnitedStatesofAmerica.[2]ThefirstcapitaloftheUnitedStatesofAmericawasNewYork.Inwhatwayarethemeaningsdifferent?In[1],thechoiceof“NewYork”astheThemeindicatesthattheclauseisgoingtoprovideinformationaboutNewYork(“IwilltellyouaboutNewYork”);itmeetsanexpectationofsomeonewhowouldliketoknowsomethingaboutNewYork.In[2],thechoiceof“ThefirstcapitaloftheUnitedStatesofAmerica”astheThemeindicatesthattheclauseisaboutthe(historyof)thecapitaloftheUnitedStates(“IwilltellyouaboutthefirstcapitaloftheUnitedStates”).[3]我叫XX，是XX大学07届博士研究生，我的专业是语言学，XX教授是我的导师。ThemeandaboutnessAnimportantaspectoftextualcoherenceistheconsistencein“aboutness”ofthetext.Onewayforwriterstocreateconsistenceintextual“aboutness”istouseconsistentThemesintheclauses,thatis,mostoftheclausesusethesameTheme,thoughnotnecessarilythesameword.TheGreatWhiteSharkPerhapsnocreatureonlandorseainspiressomuchterrorastheGreatWhiteShark.GreatWhitesaresurfacehunters,swiftandpowerfulswimmerswhichwillattackandtrytoeatanything.Theyonlyattackmanoccasionally,buttheattacksaresudden,deadlyanddramatic.Onebitamanintwo,anothersix-metrespecimendiedaftertryingtoswallowamanwhole.In1916aGreatWhitekilledfourbathersoffaNewJerseybeach.Sharkscircletheirprey,appearingfromnowhere,andfrequentlyapproachingfrombelow.AGreatWhitehasbeenknowntopartawireropewithabreakingstrengthof2000kilograms.SharkkillstwooffBarrierReefTheskipperofaprawntrawler,wreckedofftheNorthQueenslandcoast,isrecoveringinhospitalaftera36-hourordealduringwhichhistwo-membercrew,oneawoman,weretakenbyasharkasthethreeclungtowreckage.MrRayBoundy,aged33,saidthatafterthesharkattackedDennisMurphy,aged24,takingoffhisleg,MrMurphyswamcleartodrawthesharkaway.Hewasnotseenagain.AlsokilledwasLindaHorton,aged21.ThematicstructureinEFLwritingApossiblereasonbehindtheincoherenceinstudentwritingisthatthestudentsareunabletomanipulatethethematicstructureappropriately.ForexamplefailuretoadoptanappropriatedominantThememaymakethetextsoundlooseandincoherent.Example:Recently,advertisementsonTVarebecomingmoreandmorepopular.However,itmisleadstheconsumers.Firstly,newproductsareusuallyadvertisedtomakethemknowntotheconsumers.Nobodyexactlyknowsthefunctionofthenewproducts.Whattheconsumersknowareallfromtheadvertisements.However,advertisementsusuallyshowsomethinggood,omittingsomethingbad.Consumersareeasytobecheatedandsometimesitwilldoharmtoconsumers.IntraditionalJournalism,thejournalistsplayedarolewithnoreplacement.(2)Journalistshadtocovertheeventsthatarousepeople’sinterests(3)andprovidewordsandpicturesofthecoverage.(4)Naturally,journalists’pointofviewortheirperspectivewastheleaderofthatofthemass,thoughtheremightbedifferentopinionsbetweenjournaliststhemselves.Thetextisanextractfromacompositionwithatitle“TheImpactoftheInternetonJournalism”.InformationstructureDiscoursemustdeliverinformationinsuchawaythatitiseasyforthehearerorreadertoprocessandstore.Onewaytoachievethisgoalistoindicatehowtheinformationofeachsentenceistiedinwiththeinformationofothersentences,andwhatinformationthehearerorreaderiss