TEXTUAL EQUIVALENCE

THEMATIC AND INFORMATION STRUCTURES

Linear arrangement of linguistic elements plays a role in organizing messages at text level. When the speaker choose
the most appropriate formulation, he needs to think of the clause as a message rather than as a string of
grammatical and lexical elements.
The clause hasn´t only its propositional organisation in terms of elements such as subject/object and agent/patient
but it has also its interactional organization which reflects addresser/addressee relationship.

Interactional organization motivates us to make choices that ensure a clear progression of links then coherent point
of view in maintained throughout a text.
Through word order we can generate special effects in text such as putting emphasis on the clause.

Clause as a message can be analysed in terms of: thematic structure and information structure

1. A HALLIDAYAN OVERVIEW OF INFORMATION FLOW

THEMATIC STRUCTURE: THEME UND RHEME

The clause consists of 2 segments:

THEME: It is what the clause is about. It has 2 functions: 1. It acts as a point of orientation by connecting back to
previous stretches of discourse. This way it maintains a coherent point of view.
2. It acts as a point of departure by connecting forward and contributing to the development of later stretches.
RHEME: It is what the speaker says about the theme. It is the goal of discourse. It represents the very information
that the speaker wants to convey to the hearer.

This basically means that every clause has the structure of a message: It says sth. (the rheme) about sth. (the theme).

Theme (in some sources, also “topic,” “background,” or “presupposition”) is the semantic point of departure of a
clause (or more broadly, discourse) about which some information is provided:

1) Tom likes travelling.

2) Our friends have invited us.

In these examples, theme (Tom/our friends) is in the initial position. This is the most common position for theme in
English. Due to SVO (subject-verb-object) structure of a typical English sentence, theme is often the subject of the
sentence; however, passive voice violates this rule. It is worth mentioning that in some other languages (e.g.
Japanese), the common place for theme is the end of a sentence. In languages with free word order (e.g. Ukrainian),
theme can be found in the middle of a sentence.

Rheme (in some sources, also “comment,” “focus,” or “pre dictation”) is the destination where the presentation
moves after the departure point:

3) Tom likes travelling.

4) Smoking is harmful for our health.

In examples 3 and 4, rheme is represented by “like travelling” and “is harmful for our health”. Structurally, rheme
usually follows theme in English. Theme – rheme relationship produce cohesion making parts of a sentence a
communicative whole.

Linking devices such as however, nevertheless = conjunctions ->

Items which express the attitude of the speaker such as unfortunately, in my opinion = disjuncts -> they are not part
of the propositional content of the message, they aren´t considered thematic in the same way as the main clause
elements = subject, predicator, object, complement and adjunct.

THEMATIC STRUCTURE: GRAMMATICALITY VS ACCEPTABILITY

Theme and rheme aren´t grammatical notions. Grammar is part of the abstract system of language. In context,
grammaticality doesn´t necessarily ensure acceptability or coherence.

Example: Now comes the President here. It’s the window he’s stepping through to wave to the crowd. On his
victory his opponent congratulates him. ‘Gentlemen and ladies. That you are confident in me honours me …’
– This sentence is grammatically correct but it isn´t acceptable. His opponent congratulates him on his victory. – It
would be better. The acceptability, rather than grammaticality in a given context depends on how it fits into its
surrounding textual environment.

THEMATIC STRUCTURE: TEXT ORGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Emphasis is traditionally placed on theme rather than on rheme. The selection of an individual theme of a given
clause in a given text is not in itself particularly significant. But the overall choice and ordering of themes, particularly
those of independent clauses, plays an important part in organizing a text and in providing a point of orientation for
a given stretch of language.

Example: Travel brochures proliferate place adjuncts in theme position. It is because in the context of travel, location
provides a natural point of orientation around which the text can be organised.

Translators mustn´t underestimate the cumulative effect of thematic choices on the way we interpret text. If the
themes of most of the sentences of a paragraph refer to one semantic field (say location, parts of some object,
wisdom vs chance, etc.) then that semantic field will be perceived as the method of development of the paragraph.

THEMATIC STRUCTURE: MARKED VS UNMARKED SEQUENCES (postupnosti)

In linguistics, markedness refers to the way words are changed or added to give a special meaning. The unmarked
choice is just the normal meaning. For example, the present tense is unmarked for English verbs.

Thematic choice involves selecting a clause element as theme. The main clause elements are subject, predicator,
object, complement and adjunct. In the Hallidayan model, thematic choice is expressed by placing one of these
elements in initial position in the clause. But some choices are more meaningful than others, because they are more
marked than others. Meaning is closely associated with choice, so that the more obligatory an element, the less
marked it will be and the weaker will be its meaning.

Example: adjectives in front of nouns = less meaning, no result of choice

putting a time or place adverbial (today, on the shelf) = more meaning, result of choice

Degree of expectedness and unexpectedness of a choice: 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.

Example: Beautiful were her eyes (It this sentence beautiful is highly marked. It carries more textual meaning.)– Her
eyes were beautiful. Unmarked options are those which are normally selected.

Jane said nothing for a moment. – unmarked theme clause

3 main types of marked theme in English

A) FRONTED THEME: moving item into initial position, which is otherwise unusual there.
FRONTING OF TIME OR PLACE ADJUNCT: In China the book received a great deal of publicity. – marked structure
Thematizing place and time adjunct is less marked in some languages, such as Spanish and Portuguese, than in
English.

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. Fronting an
object is less marked in Chinese than in English. In German, it is totally unmarked if accompanied by a definite
determiner.

FRONTING OF PREDICATOR

They promised to publicize the book in China, and publicize it they did. – the most marked thematic choices in
English

B) PREDICATED THEME: involves using an it-structure (cleft structure) to place an element near the beginning of the
clause.

Example: It was the book that received a great deal of publicity in China. - 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.

C) 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)

Example: What the book received in China was a great deal of publicity.

Items in theme position are thus prominent in both structures – predicated and identifying. The difference is that in
predicated themes, the thematic element is presented as new information; in identifying themes, the thematic
element is presented as known information.

Predicated and identifying themes must be handled carefully in translation because they are far more marked in
languages with relatively free word order, such as German, than they are in English.

Example: It is for such customers that we have listed the properties of Matroc’s more widely used materials.
German: Für solche Kunden haben wir die Eigenschaften der gängigsten Matroc Werkstoffe aufgelistet.
Back tr.: … For such customers have we the properties of the most popular Matroc materials listed.

In addition to fronted, predicated and identifying themes, other types of marked theme exist in English, but they
tend to be much more restricted and more likely to be used in informal language. These are preposed theme and
postposed theme (Young 1980). Both involve using a gloss tag. In preposed theme, the gloss tag occurs at the
beginning of the clause, in postposed theme, it occurs at the end of the clause.

Example: Preposed theme: With the glasnost today, the Soviet Union, it’s the Mount Everest of the recording
business.
Postposed theme: It can be very hostile, England.
He was a very strange man, my father, very boyish.
A BRIEF ASSESSMENT OF THE HALLIDAYAN POSITION ON THEME

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. 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.

THEME AND CHINESE-STYLE TOPIC

Chinese is a topic-prominent language. Unlike subject-prominent languages such as English, French and German,
topic prominent languages appear to have double subjects.

Example: Fish, red snapper is delicious. (Japanese)

The topic of a clause in topic-prominent languages always occurs in initial position.

INFORMATION STRUCTURE: GIVEN AND NEW

The distinction between theme and rheme is speaker-oriented. A further distinction is 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.
Given information represents the common ground between speaker and hearer and gives the latter a reference
point to which he or she can relate new information.

Example: What are we doing tomorrow? We’re climbing Ben Nevis.

GIVEN NEW

The normal, unmarked order is for the speaker to place the given element before the new one.

Principle of END-FOCUS: linear presentation from low to high information value.

Example: She visited him that day.
She visited her best friend that day.
She visited that day an elderly and much beloved friend.

Principle of END-WEIGHT: simple verbs without modals or closely linked prepositional phrases are regularly fronted
while long and syntactically complex subjects are not.

HOW ARE GIVEN AND NEW SIGNALLED IN DISCOURSE?

Information structure is a feature of spoken rather than written English.

The domain of information structure is not the clause as a grammatical unit but the tone group as a phonological
unit. The new element on which the tonic accent falls carries the INFORMATION FOCUS. (stress) This is the device
used by English speakers to highlight the core of a message.

Example: // I haven’t seen you for ages //

Although unavailable in written language, stress is often implicit in certain structures which involve emphasis. We
generally assume that stress falls on DO when used for emphasis
Example: I did see him.

Different languages use different devices for signalling information structure. Given information is pronounced with
lower pitch and weaker stress than new and it is subject to pronominalization.
HOW IS GIVENNESS DETERMINED?

Most commonly, a given element is an element which is recoverable because it has been mentioned before.
But information may be treated by the speaker as given for a variety of other reasons. It may be predictable, or it
may be contextually salient, as in the case of first-person pronouns.

Chafe suggests that the key to givenness lies in the notion of consciousness: Given (or old) information is that
knowledge which the speaker assumes to be in the consciousness of the addressee at the time of the utterance. So
called new information is what the speaker assumes he is introducing into the addressee’s consciousness by what he
says.

A fi nal point to bear in mind is that givenness is assigned by the speaker, and as such does not necessarily correlate
with the reality of the linguistic or extra-linguistic situation. A speaker may decide to present an element as given
even when there is no sufficient reason to assume that it is in the addressee’s consciousness. This may be done for
rhetorical purposes and is a common ploy in politics.
Similarly, an element which has been mentioned before may be presented as new because it is unexpected or
because the speaker wishes to present it in a contrastive light.

MARKED VS UNMARKED INFORMATION STRUCTURE

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.
Example: // John was appointed Chairman // - tonic accent will normally fall on Chairman.
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. //

MARKED INFORMATION STRUCTURE AND MARKED RHEME

There are times when a speaker or writer seems to be deliberately highlighting a rheme by stripping the message of
its initial element, that is, the theme.

Example: House of Fraser shares were highly sensitive to any rumours of a bid, and we waited with caution and
anxiety for the green light from the ministry. And waited.

It seems reasonable to suggest that the natural theme we is omitted in the second sentence in order to foreground
the rheme. Marked theme gives prominence to an element as linking information, whereas marked rheme gives
prominence to an element as the core of the message.

2. THE PRAGUE SCHOOL POSITION ON INFORMATION FLOW: FUNCTIONAL SENTENCE

PERSPECTIVE

This approach is generally referred to as functional sentence perspective (FSP). Czech linguists investigated the
interaction between syntax and communicative function.

Example: A sentence such as John has been taken ill. has a certain syntactic structure which remains unchanged in
different communicative settings.
In context, it will function in a certain kind of perspective, depending on the purpose of communication; for instance,
it may function as a statement of a person’s state of health (John has been taken ill), as an identification of the
person affected (John has been taken ill.

The concepts of theme/rheme and given/new are supplemented in Firbas’ model with a non-binary notion that
determines which elements are thematic and which are not thematic in a clause. This is the notion of
COMMUNICATIVE DYNAMISM. - property of communication, displayed in the course of the development of the
information to be conveyed and consisting in advancing this development.
DEGREE OF CD: it ‘pushes the communication forward’.
Theme consists of contextdependent and rheme of context-independent items.

Firbas goes on to explain that the non-theme consists of two elements: the transition and the rheme. The transition
consists of elements which perform the function of linking the foundation-laying and the core-constituting parts of
the clause.

A clause consists of two types of element: foundation-laying/context-dependent elements and core-

constituting/context-independent elements. The former have a lower degree of CD and are always thematic. The
latter, however, may be thematic or rhematic. A clause may totally consist of context-independent elements and, in
this case, the theme will be the element with the lowest degree of CD and the rheme will be the element with the
highest degree of CD.

LINEAR ARRANGEMENT AND THEMATIC STATUS IN FSP

FSP theorists do not see theme and rheme as being realized chiefl y by their relative positions in the clause. - theme
normally precedes rheme.
FSP theorists also acknowledge semantic structure and context as factors which further determine the distribution of
CD. Communicative dynamism is therefore assumed to be achieved by the interplay of these three factors: linear
modifi cation (i.e. gradation of position, syntax), semantic structure and context. Semantic structure and context
‘operate either in the same direction as or counter to’ linear modifi cation (Firbas 1974:22), but both are
hierarchically superior to it.

LINEAR ARRANGEMENT AND MARKED STRUCTURES IN FSP

Example: 1. In China the book received a great deal of publicity.

2. The book received a great deal of publicity in China.

Hallidayan approach: In China – marked theme (1.)

rheme (2.)

FSP approach: In China – rhematic in both formulations

The Hallidayan approach explains it in terms of the fronting of an element to make it thematic. The Prague linguists’
approach explains it in terms of reversing the theme–rheme sequence. For the purposes of translation, what matters
is that both types of analysis recognize the sequence as marked.

THE TENSION BETWEEN WORD ORDER AND COMMUNICATIVE FUNCTION: A PROBLEM IN

TRANSLATION?

According to FSP scholars, restrictions on word order in various languages result in a linear arrangement that may or
may not coincide with the interpretative arrangement of an utterance.

Example: Interpretative arrangement: I him used to know. - Ich ihn habe gekannt.
Linear arrangement: I used to know him. - Ich habe ihn gekannt.

In languages with relatively free word order there will be less tension between the requirements of syntax and those
of communicative function.
Conversely, in languages with relatively fi xed word order there will be greater instances of tension between syntax
and communicative function.
SUGGESTED STRATEGIES FOR MINIMIZING LINEAR DISLOCATION

= strategies for resolving the tension between syntactic and communicative functions in translation

1. VOICE CHANGER
This strategy involves changing the syntactic form of the verb to achieve a different sequence of elements.
For example: substitution of active for passive
ERGATIVITY involves using the object of a transitive verb as the subject of an intransitive verb: An explosion shook
the room – The room shook (with the explosion).

2. CHANGE THE VERB

This involves changing the verb and replacing it with one that has a similar meaning but can be used in a different
syntactic configuration.
Example: I like it and It pleases me.

3. NOMINALIZATION
Nominalization involves replacing a verbal form with a nominal one.
Example: describe → description.

4. EXTRAPOSITION
Extraposition involves changing the position of the entire clause in the sentence, for instance by embedding a simple
clause in a complex sentence.
Example: (Cleft and pseudo-cleft structure)

A complement is a noun group or an adjective which comes after a link verb such as be, remain gives more
information about the subject: The results of the experiment remain a secret.

An adjunct is a word or group of words added to a clause to give more information about the circumstances of an
event or situation, for instance in terms of time, place or manner: I’ve been here all night.
Donald was lying on the bed.