搜索
Chapter5textualequivalence:thematicandinformationstructuresOneofthemostimportantfunctionsofinformationdynamicsispreciselytolinkasentencetoitsenvironmentinamannerwhichallowstheinformationtoflowthroughthetextinthedesiredmanner.Weendedthelastchapterwithabriefdiscussionofwordorderandoftext.Itwassuggestedthatthelineararrangementoflinguisticelementsplaysaroleinorganizingmessagesattextlevel.Ofthenumerousformulationsavailableforexpressingagivenmessage,aspeakerorwriterwillnormallyoptforonethatmakestheflowofinformationclearerinagivencontext.Inordertoappreciatethefactorswhichmotivateawriterorspeakertomakethiskindofselection,oneneedstothinkoftheclauseasamessageratherasastringofgrammaticalandlexicalelements.Clauseasamessagecanbeanalysedintermsoftwotypesofstructure:(a)thematicstructure;(2)informationstructure.Therearetwomainapproachestotheanalysisofclauseasstructuresasamessage.(1)TheHallidayanapproachtreatsthematicandinformationstructuresasseparate,thoughoftenoverlappingfeaturesofdiscourseorganization.(2)linguistsbelongingtothePragueSchoolbyandlargeconflatethetwostructuresandcombinetheminthesamedescription.5.1.AgeneraloverviewbasedontheHallidayanapproachtoinformationflow5.1.1.Thematicstructure:themeandrhemeOnewayofexplainingtheinteractionalorganizationofsentencesistosuggestthataclauseconsistsoftwosegments,(1)thefirstsegmentistheme.Thethemeiswhattheclauseisabout.(2)thesecondsegmentofaclauseiscalledrheme.Therhemeiswhatthespeakersaysaboutthetheme.Itisthegoalofdiscourse.Itisthemostimportantelementinthestructureoftheclauseasamessagebecauseitrepresentstheveryinformationthatthespeakerwantstoconveytothehearer.Itistherhemethatfulfilsthecommunicativepurposeoftheutterance.Everyclausehasthestructureofamessage:itsayssomething(therheme)aboutsomething(thetheme).主位分析：①Thematicanalysiscanberepresentedhierarchically.Eachclausewillhaveitsowntheme-rhemestructurewhichmaybesubordinatetoalargertheme-rhemestructure.②Someelementsarenotpartofthebasicthematicstructureofthetextbecausetheyarenotpartofthepropositionalmeaningofamessage.Theseincludespeciallinkingdevicessuchashowever,nevertheless,because,whicharecalledconjunctions.Theyalsoincludeitemswhichexpresstheattitudeofthespeaker,suchasunfortunately,inmyopinion,frankly,whicharecalleddisjuncts.Conjunctionsanddisjunctsareinherentlythematic.However,becauseconjunctionsanddisjunctsarenotpartofthepropositionalcontentofthemessage,theyarenotconsideredthematicinthesamewayasthemainclauseelementssubject,predicator,object,complementandadjunct.③Thedistinctionbetweenthemeandrhemeismoreorlessidenticaltothetraditionalgrammaticaldistinctionbetweensubjectandpredicate.Thetheme-rhemedistinctionistext-based.Itsrealvaluedoesnotlieinexplainingthestructureofindividualsentencesbutratherinsheddingthelightonanumberofimportantareaswhichcontrolinformationflow.5.1.1.1.Thematicstructure:grammaticalityVSacceptabilityUnlikethesubject-predicatedistinction,thenotionofthemeandrhemecanbeusedtoaccountfortheacceptability(ratherthangrammaticality)ofagivensequenceinagivencontext.Themeandrhemearenotgrammaticalnotions.Incontext,grammaticalitydoesnotnecessarilyensureacceptabilityorcoherence.Theacceptabilityratherthangrammaticality,ofanyofthesesequencesinagivencontextdependsonhowitfitsintoitssurroundingtextualenvironment.5.1.1.2.Thematicstructure:textorganizationanddevelopmentBydefinition,themerepresentsthespeaker'sorwriter'spointfdepartureineachclause,whichsuggeststhatitsorganizationalroleismoreimportantthanthatofrheme.Attheleveloftextualanalysis,translatorgenerallyfacethreemainpossibilities:①Iftheelementsplacedinthemepositioninthesourcetextcaneasilyandnaturallybeplacedinthemepositioninthetargettext,themethodofdevelopmentofthetwotextswillbethesameorverysimilar.②Ifthethematicpatterningoftheoriginalcannotbereproducednaturallyinthetargetlanguage,thenyouwillhavetoabandonit.Ifyoudo,youmustensurethatyourtargetversionhasitsownmethodofdevelopmentandmaintainsasenseofcontinuityinitsownright.③Translatorsmustnotunderestimatethecumulativeeffectofthematicchoicesonthewayweinterprettext.Ifthethemesofmostofthesentencesofaparagraphrefertoonesemanticfield,thenthatsemanticfieldwillbeperceivedasthemethodofdevelopmentoftheparagraph.Ifnocommonsemanticelementrunsthroughthethemesofthesentencesofaparagraph,thennosimplemethodofdevelopmentwillbeperceived.5.1.1.3.Thematicstructure:markedVSunmarkedsequencesThisparticularaspectofthematicorganizationisofspecialrelevanceintranslationbecauseunderstandingitcanhelptoheightenourawarenessofmeaningfulchoicesmadebyspeakersandwritersinthecourseofcommunication.Thematicchoiceinvolvesselectingaclauseelementastheme.Themainclauseelementsaresubject,predicator,object,complement,andadjunct.Butsomechoicesaremoremeaningfulthanothers,becausetheyaremoremarkedthanother.①Meaning,choice,andmarkednessareinterrelatedconcepts.Alinguisticelementcarriesmeaningtotheextentthatitisselected.Meaningiscloselyassociatedwithchoice,sothatthemoreobligatoryanelementis,thelessmarkeditwillbeandtheweakerwillbeitsmeaning.②Asecondaspecthastodowiththedegreeofexpected