Discourse Analysis

MONDAY, 21 S T SEPTEMBER 2020

….sentence or utterance will be the prominence or importance that the speaker or writer
wishes to give to different pieces of information. Theme is a formal grammatical
category which refers to the initial element in a clause. It is the element around which the
sentence organized , and the one to which the writer wishes to give prominence.
Everything that follows the theme is known as the rheme.

In this preceding section, we saw the information can be organized in different ways
within the sentence. In the following sentences, the same information is presented.

The cat ate the rat.

The rat was eaten by the cat.
 Thematically, however, both sentences are different. In the first sentence the
theme is The cat. It is the cat and what the cat does that is of primary interest,
and that forms the point of departure for the sentence. In second sentence, it is
fate of the rat that is of primary interest.

The cat ate the rat.

The rat was eaten by the cat.

Within the school of linguistics known as functional linguistics three types of

theme are identified – topical, interpersonal and textual.
Topical themes have to do with the information conveyed in the discourse. In the
above examples, the themes the cat and the rat are topical themes. Interpersonal
themes, on the other hand, reveal something of the attitude of the speaker or
reader. Finally, textual themes link a clause to the rest of the discourse.
These different types of theme are illustrated in the sentences below
which also show a sentence can have more than one them.

Frankly, the movie was a waste of money

Interpersonal theme Topical theme

Genre

The term ‘genre’ has been used for many years to refer to different styles
of literary discourse such as sonnets, tragedies and romance. It highlights
the fact that different types of discourse can identified by their overall
shape or generic structure. In . . . ,the term has been adapted by functional
linguists to refer different types of communication events (Martin 1984;
Swales 1990). They argue that language exists to fulfil certain functions
and that these functions will determine the overall shape or ‘generic’
structure of the discourse. This structure emerges as people communicate
with one another – that is , it will have certain predictable stages.
The communicative purpose will also be reflected in the basic
building blocks of the discourse – that is, the words and
grammatical structure themselves. In other words, different types
of communicative events result in different types of discourse,
and each own of these will have its own distinctive
characteristics. Some events result in sermons, other in political
speech and yet others in casual conversations. While each
sermon, speech and casual conversation will be different, each
discourse type will share certain characteristics which will set it
apart from other discourse type.
Curried Fish or Prawns

Chu-chi pla or goong

9 large dried chillies (or to taste) chopped and soaked
4 cloves of garlic
6 shallots
1 tablespoon diced lemongrass
3 slices galangal
3 teaspoon shrimp paste
3 cups coconut cream
3 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon palm sugar