GRAMMAR 2 - UNMDP

LUCIANA JAZMÍN AGA

THEME AND RHEME

The clause as message
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INTRODUCTION: Systemic Functional Grammar

Systemic Functional Grammar sees language as a system of interrelated meanings
(yes, plural). According to this theory of language, three types of meaning interplay within
the system: representational or ideational, interpersonal, and textual.

● Representational meaning: portrays our understanding, perception, and

interpretation of the world around us.
● Interpersonal meaning: enables us to communicate with others.
● Textual meaning: gives texts their final form by combining the two other
meanings.

When analyzing a clause, we can see how the three meanings are projected in what
Halliday calls “clause as representation”, “clause as exchange”, and “clause as message”. The
last projection is the one that leads to the analysis of theme and rheme.

Theme and rheme is a way of understanding how the information is displayed in a

clause. In English, the principle of given and new governs clauses unless there is a shift in the
focus for any reason, such as emphasis. The theme states what the clause is about, the topic,
whereas the rheme enlarges on that.

The theme contains only one ideational element. This means that the first and only
the first structure with ideational meaning sets the boundary between the theme and the
rheme in a clause. Why is ideational meaning so important to set the theme in a clause?
Because remember that that is the only meaning that deals with categories regarding our
world so it is the only type of meaning that can set the topic in a message.

From ideational or representational meaning stems the system of transitivity in SFG.

We can break down our understanding of the world into three types of elements: processes,
participants, and circumstances. Functionalists believe that processes (what we know as
verbs from a structural approach) require different participants and circumstances. The
system of transitivity classifies these processes and states which participants are attached to
different types of processes. A theme is unmarked when the first ideational element in
the clause is the subject. In that case, the default sentence order in English (SVO) is
respected. When the ideational element in the theme is other than the subject of the
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sentence, i.e. the verb, a circumstance, or another participant such as an object, we analyze
that theme as marked.

As well as “marked” and “unmarked”, themes can be simple or multiple.

Simple themes contain one element (thus, the one containing ideational meaning) whereas
multiple themes contain more than one element. The elements inside a multiple theme can
have interpersonal or textual meaning. Bear in mind that, in the case of a multiple theme,
the structure with ideational meaning will always be placed at the end.

Complete the following chart to summarize the different possible themes:

MARKED UNMARKED

SIMPLE

MULTIPLE

1. Read the text Passengers describe 'terrifying' evacuation from undersea tunnel and use
the clauses to practice theme and rheme. State when the theme begins and ends and
whether it is simple or multiple and marked or unmarked.
2. Once you have found the examples, classify them as simple or multiple and marked
or unmarked.

REMEMBER:

a) an unmarked Theme (when the subject is the topical element)

b) a marked Theme (when a structure other than the subject is the topical element)

c) a simple Theme (contains only one element -with ideational meaning-)

d) a complex (contains more than one element) Theme with a Textual element

e) a complex Theme with an Interpersonal element