The Grammar of Textual

Meaning: THEME

Widhiyanto
Universitas Negeri Semarang
pakwidhi_unnes@yahoo.com
 Textual Meaning

■ Enables text to be negotiated

■ The system of Theme: Theme + Rheme
■ Theme: point of departure of the message
■ Rheme: new information about point of
departure
 Clause: Theme
■ Type:
- Single: Topical Theme
- Multiple:
1. Attitudinal: interpersonalˆtopical Theme
2. Conjunctive: textualˆtopical Theme
3. Both: textualˆinterpersonalˆtopical Theme
■ Un/marked:
- Unmarked
- Marked
■ Un/predicated:
- Predicated
- Unpredicated
 Textual:
Subject as Theme
You probably haven’t heard.
Yellow canaries have been used to test..
The Queen opened her heart to…
This friend of mine is the only one…

Theme Rheme
‘Heavy Subject’ as Theme

The language that the Eskimo people

speak around the top of the world, in the
places as far as Siberia, Alaska, differ slightly in
Canada, and Greenland details of vocabulary.

A keen interest in the environment,

familiarity with the working of
would be a strong
Government and country planning
advantage.
Theme Rheme
 Adjunct as Theme
Last night a man was helping the police.
In our collection you will find…
Out of 30 judges only one is a woman.
As a tax payer I object paying for …
In common with … it is considered…

Theme Rheme
 Complement as Theme
All the rest we’ll do for you.
Friends like that I can do without.
Theme Rheme

Next door is the museum.

Towards the west of … lies the theatre.
There ‘s the tin opener
Theme Rheme
(circumstantial Attributive
Complement)
 Theme in WH questions
What happened to her?
What do you know
Which platform does it leave from
How did you come to employ
What use him.
How often is a second?
are you supposed to…
Theme Rheme
 Marked Theme & Yes/no Q
After the party, where did you go?

Marked Theme Rheme

Have you finished your mean, sir?

Did he tell you where I was?
Hasn’t he changed his name?
Theme Rheme
 Imperative Clauses
Leave the lamp here.
Don’t cry about it.
Do have some cheese.
Let’s go for a walk.
Theme Rheme

You just shut up, will you?

On arrival at the airport, Take a taxi.
For a sharper taste, Squeeze some lime over it
Theme Rheme
 Exclamative clauses
What a nice plant you’ve got.
How absolutely lovely she looks tonight.
Theme Rheme
 Elliptical Clauses
Who (would you most like to meet?)
(I ‘d most like to meet) Your real father.
Why ever (will you) not (come)?
(That ‘s a) Amazing discovery.
(Are you) Not sure what a special delivery is?

Theme Rheme
 Thematic Equatives
What you need to do is to write…
What really got up my nose was the way she…
What I want to talk about is the nature of …
What one will not learn here is anything about…
What happened was that he…

Theme Rheme
 Marked Thematic Equatives

That ‘s not what I want.

That ‘s why he left.
Making her feel good about is, after all, what he does
herself best.
And nothing is precisely what we got.

Theme Rheme
 Predicated Theme
It is not the technology
It is we
It is not painting, but politics,
It is the second of this point
It wasn’t until 1998
Theme
which is wrong
who have not learned…
which has brought…
that I shall be concentrating…
that we finally came back…
Rheme
 Thematised Comment

It is true that it took five years to…

It may be That the news reporters…
It’s interesting that you should say that.
It is difficult to know exactly…
It is regretted that the University is
unable…
Theme Rheme
 Proposed Theme

People like us, in the we have to be careful…

middle, that’s what life is about.
Happiness, what was he on about?
The bloke who rang last does she know you’re
night, here?
Your Mum,
Theme Rheme
 Theme in dependent and dominant clause

As the expanded, the decreased.

universe temperature
of the
radiation
Theme Rheme

Theme 1 Rheme 2 Theme 2 Rheme 2

 Multiple Themes
Well, Certainly sanity is a precarious state.
My God, Harriet, we ‘ve been …
But surely the course doesn’t start…
And, oddly he was right.
Textual Interpersonal Experienti Rheme
al
Theme
 Alternative ordering
Unfortunately, however, the politician did not…
Not
surprisingly, then its operation was stopped.

Interpersonal Textual Experiential

Rheme
Theme
 Yes/No Interrogatives
Had she missed her Mum?
Mrs. Louis, would you say it is true?
Well, Do have one of these…
Please don’t make me out as some
hysterical idiot.
Textual Interpersonal Experien
tial Rheme
Theme
 Conjunction as a part of Theme
Thus, disorder will tend to increase…
Nevertheless, we can reflect on our…
However, when ice forms, they will have…
Then we haven’t met before, have we?
Certainly, his wife June was a very odd woman.
Admittedly, he took the trouble to destruy…
Please may I leave the table?

Theme Rheme
 Interpolation in Theme
Karr, 40, is a testimony to survival.
It was a philosopher – was it
Searle or Saussure - who proposed that
language…

Theme Rheme
 Existential
There was no question of Kate’s marrying Ted.
There is something special about the situation.
Theme Rheme
 Preposed Attributive in Themes

Always ready the instant you needs no battery or mains

need it, the torch charging.

Standing in extensive has been carefully maintained

gardens, the house to a high standard.

Theme Rheme