Re: theme/rheme markers

I'm using theme = old information (bending towards the
subject of conversation)
rheme - new information (either on the same subject or
on a new subject of conversation)
Not very clear I know, but the terminology is vague to
start off with.

James

 --- The Gray Wizard <dbell@...> wrote: > >
From: O'Connell James
> >
> > Ok, I came up with this system for Elenyo, and I
> was
> > wondering if anyone had a comparable system in
> their
> > own lang. This presumes knowledge of prague school
> > theme/rheme
>
> First we need a definition of terms.
>
> While two of the three segments of sentence
> structure (grammatical and
> semantic) are clear enough to me, the third, the
> communicative (theme/rheme
> or theme/transitional zone/rheme) has always been
> somewhat more elusive for
> me.  Nor do I believe there is any agreement about
> the definition of
> theme/rheme in a sentence. I have seen them defined
> by means of the
> information value for the discourse of various parts
> of a sentence, such
> that the theme is what is known or given and the
> rheme is the unknown or
> new. This seems to overlap significantly with Topic
> and Focus.  Others
> define the them according to the contribution of
> parts of a sentence to the
> _development_ of a discourse. If the contribution is
> minor, then the
> relevant part of the sentence is the theme, and if
> it is major, it is called
> the rheme.  How do you define these?
>
> Stay curious,
> David
>
> David E. Bell
> The Gray Wizard
> www.graywizard.net
>
> Wisdom begins in wonder.
____________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.co.uk address at http://mail.yahoo.co.uk
or your free @yahoo.ie address at http://mail.yahoo.ie