Martin (1992: 452-3):
Taking New as the final clause constituent in [6:36] displays the same difference in the range of realisations noted for the spoken text considered above. The Theme grounds the genre, anchoring it to just a few meanings and News articulate the field (topical Themes are in small caps in this example to distinguish them more clearly from News; marked Themes are underlined.
Blogger Comments:
[1] 'Taking New as the final clause constituent in [6:36]' seriously misrepresents the distribution of information in the text. Not only does this fail to take into account the lexical density of the text, but it ignores the fact that the text is contrasting the participation of the U.S. in WW1 with their participation in WW2. This contrast is effected in the text through contrastive News, in both Theme (marked and unmarked) and Rheme. An analysis of the text — based on a spoken reading of the text — appears below, with thematic foci highlighted in green, and rhematic foci in blue.
[2] See the previous and next blog post.
[3] This completely overlooks how the structural textual resources, theme and information, collaborate in this 'compare and contrast' text type. Contrastive New is deployed throughout, not just in Rhemes, but in all seven of the marked Themes and in five of the ten unmarked Themes; and the high proportion of marked Themes reflects the fact that such contrasts are presented as the point of departure for contextualising what follows in the clause.
[4] This is not a marked Theme. It is a beta clause of a regressive sequence that is thematic in a clause nexus.
[4] This is not a marked Theme. It is a beta clause of a regressive sequence that is thematic in a clause nexus.
[5] There are several errors in Martin's analysis:
- in [b] the final ranking clause constituent is the Complement fundamentally different from what it became in World War II rather than the rank-shifted in World War II;
- [c], [d] and [l] contain two clauses rather than one, with mood ellipsis in the second clause in each instance; and
- in [r] the topical Theme is the Wh-/Adjunct for which rather than the Subject completely new tactics.
Theme
|
Rheme
|
|||
textual
|
topical
|
|||
marked
|
unmarked
|
|||
a
|
Although
|
the United States
|
participated heavily in
World War I
|
|
b
|
the nature of that participation
|
participation was
fundamentally different from
what it became in World War II
|
||
c
|
the earlier conflict
|
was a one-ocean war for the Navy
|
||
and
|
a one-theatre war for the Army
|
|||
d
|
the latter
|
was a two-ocean war for the Navy
|
||
and
|
one of five major theatres for the Army
|
|||
e
|
in both wars
|
a vital responsibility of
the Navy was escort-of-convoy and anti-submarine work
|
||
f
|
but
|
in the 1917-18 conflict
|
it never clashed with the enemy on the surface
|
|
g
|
whilst
|
between 1941 and 1945
|
it fought some twenty major and countless minor engagements with the Japanese Navy
|
|
h
|
American soldiers who
engaged in World War I
|
were taken overseas
in transports
|
||
i
|
and
|
landed on docks or in protected harbours
|
||
j
|
in World War II
|
the art of amphibious warfare had to be revived and
developed
|
||
k
|
since
|
assault troops
|
were forced to fight their way ashore
|
|
l
|
airpower
|
in the earlier conflict, was still inchoate
|
||
and
|
almost negligible
|
|||
m
|
in the latter
|
it was a determining factor
|
||
n
|
in World War I
|
the battleship still
reigned queen of the sea
|
||
o
|
as
|
she
|
had in changing forms, since the age of Drake
|
|
p
|
and
|
Battle Line
|
fought with tactics
inherited from the age of sail
|
|
q
|
but
|
in World War II
|
the capital naval force was the air-craft
carrier taskgroup
|
|
r
|
for which
|
completely new tactics had to be devised
|
||
