National open university of nigeria school of arts and social sciences



Download 0.49 Mb.
View original pdf
Page38/107
Date19.01.2023
Size0.49 Mb.
#60408
1   ...   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   ...   107
ENG223 Discourse Analysis
3.4
Thematic Structure

This is similar to what we just finished discussing, but not exactly like it. Thematic structure refers to the organization of the message in the clause. A special status is given to one part of the clause that is called the Theme and the other part is called the
Rheme. This simply has to do with what the writer or speaker chose as the starting point of the clause. Discussions on thematic structure was popularized by scholars in Systemic Linguistics and The Prague School.


47
3.5
Theme
The theme is the defined as Halliday (1985: 39) as
the element which serves as the starting point for the message

He went further to say that the Theme is what the clause is all about. Inmost cases, the Theme assumes the first position in the clause. For example
8.6.
The president of Nigeria is from the northern part of the country

The Theme here refers to a person. In other instance, it may refer to places, time, attitude, and so forth, as we can see in the following examples respectively
8.6.
In Ghana, Nigeria lost a football match
8.7.
Last week, I went to Cotonou byroad
8.8.
In my own opinion, you are wrong
3.6
Rheme

The Rheme is defined by Eggins (1993: 275) as
that part of the clause in which the Theme is developed.
It is every other part of the clause apart from the Theme. The Rheme is the part of the clause that contains the real message of the clause. The speaker/writer departs at the point of the Theme to supply the message to the hearer/reader.
Self-assessment Exercices

Take two newspaper editorials and identify the Themes and Rhemes in theme. Also, identify the Given and New information in them. Now, compare the differences and similarities in the Theme/Rheme and Given/New information.

Download 0.49 Mb.

Share with your friends:
1   ...   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   ...   107




The database is protected by copyright ©ininet.org 2024
send message

    Main page