Not Accounting For A Distinctive Mode Of Development

Martin (1992: 453):

Theme selection in [6:36] is mainly restricted to the two World Wars alongside an army/navy/airforce string (assault troops, airpower, she, Battle Line).  The text's method of development in other words narrowly circumscribes its selection of Themes.  Choices for New are not restricted in this way; they open up the field of naval history, a small portion of which is being constructed in this text.

minimal news in [6:36]	topical themes in [6:36]
in World War I	World War I (4)
in World War II	World War II (5)
for the Army	both wars
for the Army	participation
escort-of-convoy and anti-submarine work	assault troops
on the surface	airpower
with the Japanese Navy	battleship
in transports	Battle Line
on docks or in protected harbours	new tactics
had to be revived and developed
ashore
inchoate and almost negligible
a determining factor
queen of the sea
since the age of Drake
with tactics inherited from the age of sail
had to be devised

Blogger Comments:

[1] The actual topical Themes in [6:36] are as follows, with likely foci of (largely contrastive) New highlighted:

topical Theme
marked	unmarked
	the United States
	the nature of that participation
	the earlier conflict
	the latter
in both wars
in the 1917-18 conflict
between 1941 and 1945
	American soldiers who engaged in World War I
in World War II
	assault troops
	airpower
in the latter
in World War I
	she
	Battle Line
in World War II
	for which

[2] Text [6:36] contrasts the participation of the U.S. armed forces in WWI with their participation in WWII. To this end, each war-time is thematised, by turns, to provide the point of the departure that contextualises what is to follow in each clause, as the contrasts are accumulated through the text.

In contrast, merely to say that the text's method of development 'narrowly circumscribes its selection of Themes' does not begin to account for the use of theme selection in this text.

[3] Arbitrarily restricting the choices of New to the last functional element of clause structure seriously misrepresents the packaging of information in text [6:36].  The more likely foci of New information, based on reading the text aloud, are the thematic New highlighted in green, above, and the rhematic New highlighted in blue, below.

Rheme

participated heavily in World War I

participation was fundamentally different from what it became in World War II

was a one-ocean war for the Navy

a one-theatre war for the Army

was a two-ocean war for the Navy

one of five major theatres for the Army

a vital responsibility of the Navy was escort-of-convoy and anti-submarine work

it never clashed with the enemy on the surface

it fought some twenty major and countless minor engagements with the Japanese Navy

were taken overseas in transports

landed on docks or in protected harbours

the art of amphibious warfare had to be revived and developed

were forced to fight their way ashore

in the earlier conflict, was still inchoate

almost negligible

it was a determining factor

the battleship still reigned queen of the sea

had in changing forms, since the age of Drake

fought with tactics inherited from the age of sail

the capital naval force was the air-craft carrier taskgroup

completely new tactics had to be devised

[4] It is all the content of the text that construes the field; New merely highlights textually what the author deems unrecoverable to the reader.  Martin here confuses the textual highlighting (New) with the experiential content being highlighted.