Textual Equivalence :

Thematic and
Information Structure
Group 4

1. Ragil Pungkasana
2. Tophan Cahyo Nugroho
3. M. Candra Irawan
4. Hildan Hidayatullah
5. Fernaldy Wydyta Fauzan
6. M. Rilifansyah
7. M. Hanif
Theme

The theme is what the clause is about. It has two functions: (a) it acts as a
point of orientation by connecting back to previous stretches of discourse
and thereby maintaining a coherent point of view and, (b) it acts as a point
of departure by connecting forward and contributing to the development of
later stretches.
In Ptolemy’s model provided a reasonably accurate system for predicting the
positions of heavenly bodies in the sky, the theme is Ptolemy’s model. This is
what the clause is about. At clause level, a speaker announces the topic of
his/her message by thematizing it, that is, by putting it in initial position
Rheme

The rheme is what the speaker says about the theme. It is the goal of
discourse. As such, it is the most important element in the structure of the
clause as a message because it represents the very information that the
speaker wants to convey to the hearer. It is the rheme that fulfils the
communicative purpose of the utterance.
In the above example, the rheme is: provided a reasonably accurate system
for predicting the positions of heavenly bodies in the sky, which is what the
writer has to say about Ptolemy’s model. This basically means that every
clause has the structure of a message: it says something (the rheme) about
something (the theme).
Thematic structure: grammaticality vs acceptability

Unlike the subject–predicate distinction, the notions of theme and rheme can
be used to account for the acceptability (rather than grammaticality) of a
given sequence in a given context. Theme and rheme are not grammatical
notions. They have little to do with whether a given sequence is or is not
grammatical.2 Grammatical sequences are part of the abstract system of
language. In context, grammaticality does not necessarily ensure
acceptability or coherence.
Thematic structure: text organization and development

In addition to complementing the notion of grammaticality with notions of

acceptability and naturalness, the theme–rheme distinction can also be useful 126
In other words in explaining methods of organization and development in different
types of text. In this area, a great deal of emphasis has traditionally been placed
on theme rather than on rheme. By definition, theme represents the speaker’s/
writer’s point of departure in each clause, which suggests that its organizational
role is more important than that of rheme.
Thematic structure: marked vs unmarked sequences

A further area in which the notions of theme and rheme have proved very
useful relates to marked and unmarked structures. This particular aspect of
thematic organization is of special relevance in translation because
understanding it can help to heighten our awareness of meaningful choices
made by speakers and writers in the course of communication.
Thematic choice involves selecting a clause element as theme. The main
clause elements are subject, predicator, object, complement, and adjunct.6
In the Hallidayan model, thematic choice is expressed by placing one of
these elements in initial position in the clause. Thematic choice is always
meaningful because it indicates the speaker’s/writer’s point of departure. But
some choices are more meaningful than others, because they are more
marked than others
In China the book received a great deal of publicity. This is a marked
structure, but it is not highly marked because adverbials are fairly mobile
elements in English. As we noted earlier, thematizing place adjuncts is very
common in certain types of text in English, such as travel brochures, where
locative themes offer a natural method of text development. Enkvist (1987)
found that the same is true of guidebooks. Thematizing temporal adjuncts is
similarly common in any type of narrative text, that is, any text which recounts
a series of events. In the following example from the Foreword to A Hero from
Zero, Tiny Rowland presents a summary of the events leading up to the Fayed
brothers’ acquisition of the House of Fraser. Thematized temporal adjuncts are
highlighted in bold.
Fronting of object or complement

Object: A great deal of publicity the book received in China. Complement:

Well publicized the book was. The fronting of objects and complements is
much more marked than the fronting of adjuncts in English because objects
and complements are fairly 134 In other words restricted in position. Again,
the same is not true of other languages. Fronting an object is less marked in
Chinese than in English. In German, it is totally unmarked if accompanied by
a definite determiner (Kirkwood, 1979).
Fronting of predicator

They promised to publicize the book in China, and publicize it they did.
Textual equivalence: thematic structure 135 This is the most marked of all
thematic choices in English. In addition to fronting the predicator, this choice
also involves re-arranging other clause elements and adjusting the form of the
verbal group. Authentic examples are hard to find because fronted
predicators are very rare in English. In languages such as Arabic, verbs
frequently occur in thematic position and the fronting of a predicator is
therefore not a marked thematic choice. In translating from a language such
as Arabic to a language such as English, the unmarked predicator + subject
structure would normally be translated by an equally unmarked structure such
as subject + predicator rather than by an identical but highly marked
structure which places the predicator in initial position. Going in the other
direction, say from English into Arabic, a translator should try to find some way
of conveying the emphasis attached to a fronted predicator. I cannot
comment on the devices available in other languages, but in Arabic, for
instance, the particle qad may be used with the past tense of the verb to
convey emphasis. A lexical item such as ‘in fact’ may also be used to convey
even stronger emphasis. The effect would be similar to something like and
they did in fact publicize it in English, except that the verb in Arabic would be
in theme position (literally: qad publicize-they-it in fact).
Predicated theme

Predicating a theme involves using an it-structure (also called a cleft

structure) to place an element near the beginning of the clause, as in It was
the book that received a great deal of publicity in China, it was a great deal
of publicity that the book received in China, or It was in China that the book
received a great deal of publicity. Apart from conjunctions and disjuncts
which we have decided not to take into account for our current purposes,
this is the only instance in which the theme of the clause is not the element
that occurs in initial position. The theme of an it-structure is not It but rather the
element which occurs after the verb to be. It simply acts as an empty subject
which allows a certain element such as the book or in China to be placed
near the beginning of the clause and to be interpreted as its theme, that is,
what the message is about.
Identifying theme

Identifying themes are very similar to predicated themes. Instead of using It

(a cleft structure), an identifying theme places an element in theme position
by turning it into a nominalization using a wh-structure (called a pseudo-cleft
structure), as in What the book received in China was a great deal of
publicity, or What was received by the book in China was a great deal of
publicity.
A brief assessment of the Hallidayan position on theme Any approach to
describing information flow in natural language will generally recognize that
clauses are organized in terms of theme and rheme. But, as already noted,
different linguists give different accounts of the way in which theme and
rheme are realized in discourse. Each account is naturally biased towards the
native language of the linguist in question as well as other languages with
which s/he may be familiar. One of the main differences between the
Hallidayan and other approaches is that Halliday has always insisted that, at
least in English, the theme–rheme distinction is realized by the sequential
ordering of clause elements. Theme is the element placed by the speaker in
first position in the clause; rheme is whatever comes after the theme. A
rheme– theme sequence therefore has no place in Halliday’s system.10 This
position contrasts sharply with that taken by Prague linguists, such as Firbas,
who reject sentence position as the only criterion for identifying theme and
rheme (see section 5.2 below).
Information structure: given and new The distinction between theme and
rheme is speaker-oriented. It is based on what the speaker wants to
announce as his/her starting point and what s/he goes on to say about it. A
further distinction can be drawn between what is given and what is new in a
message. This is a hearer-oriented distinction, based on what part of the
message is known to the hearer and what part is new. Here again, a message
is divided into two segments: one segment conveys information which the
speaker regards as already known to the hearer. The other segment conveys
the new information that the speaker wishes to convey to the hearer. Given
information represents the common Textual equivalence: thematic structure
145 ground between speaker and hearer and gives the latter a reference
point to which s/he can relate new information. Like thematic structure,
information structure is a feature of the context rather than of the language
system as such. One can only decide what part of a message is new and
what part is given within a linguistic or situational context.
For example, the same message may be segmented differently in response to
different questions: What’s happening tomorrow? What are we doing tomorrow?
What are we climbing tomorrow? (examples from Morley, 1985: 75) The
organization of the message into information units of given and new reflects the
speaker’s sensitivity to the hearer’s state of knowledge in the process of
communication. At any point of the communication process, there will have
already been established a certain linguistic and non-linguistic environment. This
the speaker can draw on in order to relate new information that s/he wants to
convey to elements that are already established in the context. The normal,
unmarked order is for the speaker to place the given element before the new
one. This order has been found to contribute to ease of comprehension and recall
and some composition specialists therefore explicitly recommend it to writers
(Vande Kopple, 1986). The given-before-new principle influences other
sequencing decisions in language. Greenbaum and Quirk posit a principle of end-
focus to account for the tendency to process information ‘so as to achieve a
linear presentation from low to high information value’ (1990: 395). Moreover, they
suggest that Since the new information often needs to be stated more fully than
the given (that is, with a longer, ‘heavier’ structure), it is not unexpected that an
organization principle which may be called END-WEIGHT comes into operation
along with the principle of end-focus. (ibid.: 398) In other words, the same principle
which motivates speakers to place given before new information also motivates
them to place longer and heavier structures towards the end of the clause, as in
the following examples (ibid.: 398): We’re climbing Ben Nevis. NEW We’re Given
climbing Ben Nevis. New We’re climbing Given Ben Nevis
How are given and new signalled in discourse?

As far as Halliday and Hasan are concerned, information structure is a feature

of spoken rather than written English: The information systems are those
concerned with the organization of the text into units of information. This is
expressed in English by the intonation patterns, and it is therefore a feature
only of spoken English. (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 325) Strictly speaking (for
them), the domain of information structure is not the clause as a grammatical
unit but the tone group as a phonological unit. Each information unit consists
of either a combination of given-plus-new elements or of just a new element.
This is realized phonologically as a tone group, with the peak of prominence
or tonic accent falling on the new element. The new element on which the
tonic accent falls carries the information focus. This is the device used by
English speakers to highlight the core of a message. The tonic accent is what
we normally perceive as stress. In the following examples (from Halliday,
1985), the element which receives the tonic accent is underlined. The symbol
// marks the boundary of a tone unit. // now silver needs to have love // // I
haven’t seen you for ages //
How is givenness determined? Identifying signals of information status is one
area of information structure that is clearly relevant in translation. Another
area which can pose problems in translation relates to the ability to
determine when and when not a certain item of information can be treated
as given.
Marked vs unmarked information structure Unlike thematic structure (at least in
English), information structure is not realized by the sequencing of elements. It is
realized chiefly by tonicity. In unmarked information structure, the information
focus falls on something other than the theme. It falls on the whole rheme or part
of it; for example, in John was appointed Chairman, the tonic accent will normally
fall on Chairman: // John was appointed Chairman // This information structure
would give the message the meaning of a statement of what happened or what
John was appointed as. Other options are available to the speaker, depending
on where s/he feels the burden of his/her message lies. For instance, the
information focus may be placed on John, and in this case the message will be
understood as a statement of who was appointed Chairman and may imply
surprise or contrast: // John was appointed Chairman // Similarly, the focus may
be placed on was to stress the truth of the utterance: // John was appointed
Chairman // In written language, marked information structure is often signalled
by means of typography or punctuation devices. In the following example from
Agatha Christie’s Crooked House (1949), italics are used to highlight the elements
on which the information focus falls: ‘The family! Beasts! I hate them all.’ She
looked at me, her mouth working. She looked sullen and frightened and angry.
‘They’ve been beastly to me always – always. From the very first. Why shouldn’t I
marry their precious father? What did it matter to them? They’d all got loads of
money. He gave it to them. They wouldn’t have had the brains to make any for
themselves!’ She went on: ‘Why shouldn’t a man marry again – even if he is a bit
old? And he wasn’t really old at all – not in himself. I was very fond of him. I was
fond of him.’ She looked at me defiantly. (1959: 61)
THANKS