Arguments for seeing theme- rheme and topic-comment as separate functional structures

• Main Author: LaPolla, Randy J.
• Other Authors: Martin, J. R.
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 2021
• Subjects: Humanities::Linguistics; Systemic Functional Language; Linguistics
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/145791
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In this chapter I would like to talk about aspects of the SFL approach to communication that I think are important to all linguists but have been overlooked or obscured in some other approaches. These include recognition of the importance of Theme-Rheme; the separation of Theme-Rheme and ‘given’-‘new’; the separation of interpersonal and ideational meaning; the importance of prosody in understanding grammar; the usefulness of the Token/Value distinction; and explanation in description. I will also point out aspects of Prof. Halliday’s approach that have influenced other approaches, and aspects that relate to concepts in other approaches, such as the importance of Theme to what is called ‘projection’ in Interactional Linguistics, and on the basis of this suggest that Theme-Rheme be seen as a separate functional structure from Topic-Comment. I will also discuss the role of construction in meaning creation.