5 Textual equivalence: thematic and information structures
Text: The verbal record of a communicative event; an instance of language in u rather than language as an abstract system of meanings and relations. (p111)
Cohesion: 衔接 A network of lexical, grammatical, and other relations which provide links between various parts of a text, and which organize and create a text; a surface relation which connects together the actual words and expressions that we can e or hear.(p180)
[The connection between successive ntences in texts, conversations, etc., in so far as it can be described in terms of specific syntactic units.]
Coherence: 连贯 A network of relations which organize and create a text; the network of conceptual relations which underlie the surface structure. (p218)
招收
[The way in which the content of connected speech or text hangs together, or is interpreted as hanging together, as distinct from that of random asmblages of ntences.]
Theme: What the clau is about. (p121)
出血性胃炎
Rheme: What the speaker says about the theme. (p122)
Communicative dynamism(交际动力): The extent to which the element contributes to the development of the communication. (p161) E.g. Parts of a ntence reprenting given information are said to have the lowest degree of communicative dynamism (or CD), i.e. the amount that, in context, they communicate to addres is the least.
5.1 A general overview bad on the Hallidayan approach to information flow
5.1.1 Thematic structure: theme and rheme
Theme: what the clau is about
Function: 1) connecting back to previous stretches of discour— orientation
2) connecting forward and contributing to the development of later stretches—departure
Rheme: what the speaker says about the theme—the goal of discour
去世
文雅的名字The most important; what the speaker wants to convey
The structure of a message in every clau—It says something (the rheme) about something (the theme)
(a) Thematic analysis can be reprented hierarchically.
(b) Some elements are not part of the basic thematic structure.
(c) The distinction between theme and rheme is more or less identical to the traditional distinction between subject and predicate.
5.1.1.1 Thematic structure: grammaticality vs acceptability
Subject-predicate——grammaticality
Theme-rheme——acceptability
5.1.1.2 Thematic structure: text organization and development
thematic patterning
路遥的人生 5.1.1.3 Thematic structure: marked vs unmarked quences
◆Relationship between meaning, choice, and markedness:
1). Choice—Meaning is cloly associated with choice, so that the more obligatory an element is, the less marked it will be and the weaker will be its meaning.
2). Expectedness—The less expected a choice, the more marked it is and the more meaning it carries; the more expected, the less marked it is and the less significance it will have.
◆ The degree of markedness is determined by:
石油钻杆
1) Frequency —The more frequent an element in theme position, the less markedness it has.
2) Extent of mobility—The more mobile an element in the clau, the more marked it is a
s the theme. (e ‘Choice’)
◆ The function of marked theme:
反对关系 A marked theme is lected specifically to foreground a particular element as the topic of the clau or its point of departure.
Local prominence (marked theme) vs overall discour prominence (rheme)
◆ Three main types of marked theme in English:
(a) Fronted theme
(b) Predicated theme—it clau (implying contrast)
(c) Identifying theme—wh- clau (implying contrast)
5.1.1.4 A brief asssment of the Hallidayan position on theme
※Marked structure and translation
1) Marked SV (VS)
红色运动会Beneath the emblem on a table stood a big box.
Translated version:
标志下面有张桌子,上面立着一个大盒子。(unmarked:一个大盒子立在标志下面的一张桌子上。)
2) Marked SVO (OSV)
This love of bright colors she got from me, along with her red hair.
His learning I admire, but his character I despi.
Translated version:
这种对鲜艳颜色的爱好她是从我这里继承去的,还有她那一头的红发。(她从我这里继承了这种对鲜艳色彩的爱好,还有她那一头的红发。)
他的学识,我佩服;但他的人格,我鄙视。
3) Marked attribute
And I stained the water clear. (the clear water)
荷塘四面,长着许多树,蓊蓊郁郁底(朱自清《荷塘月色》)
Translated version:
我玷污了这水的纯洁。
Around the pond grows a profusion of trees, lush and luxuriant.
4) Marked adverbial
Not for a day has he neglected his duty.
在银幕上,她是一名观众熟悉的演员;在文坛上,她又是一位享有盛誉的作家。
Translated version:
他没有玩忽职守,一天也没有。(他一天也没有玩忽职守)
On the screen, she is a well-known actress; in literary circles, she is a celebrated writer.