语言学第六章Grammar and Text ppt.ppt

Grammar and Text What is text? A text is sentences of any length put together, with texture. Texture is what binds a text together, intrinsically and contextually. In order to explain how human language works, contemporary linguists turn to texts (sometimes called discourse) to study the relationship between language and context and functional linguists are very active in this type of research . The functional approach One of the main ideas of the Prague linguistic Circle is that a sentence may be analyzed from the functional side as well as the grammatical side. Vilem Mathesius, life-long chairman of the circle, held that apart from the analysis of a sentence in term of subject and predicate from the formal point of view, there may also be a functional analysis in term of theme and rheme. The first term refers to “that which is known or at least obvious in the given situation and from which the speaker proceeds”, and the second “what the speaker states about, or in regard to, the starting point of the utterance” (Danes,1974) Theme Rheme Theme is the point of departure in a sentence. The rest of the clause is called rheme. Once you have identified the theme, rheme is just “everything else”. The clause in terms of message is thus: Theme + Rheme Thematic progression 1) the continuous or constant theme pattern 2) the linear theme pattern. 3) the split rheme pattern. Information structure While theme uses position within the clause to organize information into an initial orientation followed by the rheme, the system of information uses intonation to highlight what is particular newsworthy in the message. The new element in the clause is foregrounded by a high pitch as we speak. More technically, the new element contains a tonic syllable. -Which one is Mary’s boy? -He is the tall one. Foot, Tone group, Tonic Foot: a unit consisting of one or more syllables. Tone group: the unit of information. A high pitch (tonic) is contained in the tone group. Foot is the rh