28. Communicative structure of the sentence. Functional sentence perspective

The sentence is also a unit of speech, a minimum free utterance, whose main purpose is to convey information, to express thoughts and feelings. FSP was devised by the representatives of the Prague School of Functional Linguistics and is called the actual division of the sentence after the Check scholar Vilem Mathesius.

Pragmatic factors of the word order:

• Which element of the proposition represents the main topic, what the clause is about;

• Which element the speaker chooses as the “point of departure” of the message;

• Which part of the message the speaker considers the mast important;

• Which part of the message treats as known to the listener and which is presented as new;

These are usually described in terms of FSP. FSP refers to the way the speaker structures the information, the way he identifies the relative importance of utterance parts.

Usually the utterance consists of two parts: the topic of discussion: something about which a statement is made and the new information, which adds most to the process of communication. These two sections are called the theme and the rheme, or topic: and comment.

The purpose of this division is:

• To reveal the information importance of different sentence parts;

• To organize the message in such a way as to point out the focus of communication;

The theme is the “point of departure” is in a clause. It’s usually realized by the 1^st clause constituent(s). The rest of the clause is considered to the rheme. There also can be some trasitional elements. So, the initial element is very important. It usually acts as a single, directing the listener’s expectations about the structure that is likely to follow. If the theme coincides with the clause Subject, the listener is prepared to hear a declarative structure. (I heard a shot); an auxiliary in the initial-interrogative sentence. (Did you hear the shot?)

Communicational structure or (!) thematic structure and/or informational structure. The thematic structure and the formal syntactic structure of the clause are independent of each other. The theme and the rheme can be expected by different parts of the sentence. Still, some clause elements tend to be used as the theme, others-as the rheme. The theme in modern English is usually expressed by the syntactic Subject. While the Predicate and its complements (Predicative groups) usually express the rheme. But syntactic Subjects can become a rheme of the sentence.

There are tables in the room.

The clause conveys a message. So, it’s a bearer of the information and has its informational structure. Information is generated by the interplay between what is already known/ predicted and what’s new and unpredictable.

(Hense) the sentence as the informational unit as a structure made of 2 components:

• The New (it’s obligatory);

• The Given (it’s optional);

There’s a clause relationship between the semantic structure (the theme and the rheme) and informational structure ( the Given and the New). There’re NOT the same.

The theme is what the speaker chooses to take as his/her point of departure;

The Given is what the listener knows/ can predict.

So, (theme+rheme) is speaker-centered and (Given+New) is listerner-centered. Both are speaker-selected. Some situations contain only the rheme –monothematic ( It’s getting dark). The majority of sentences are dirhematic (rheme+theme)+ transitional elements.

In Modern Russian (a syntactic language with a highly developed morphemic syntax) the rheme is usually placed at the end; the main means of expressing FSP is word-order.

According to V.Y.Shevyakova, only 0% of sentences have regressive structure Rh—Th, 94% have progressive structure Th—Rh. Some means of preserving the progressive information structure:

1. passive transformations — UNESCO took the first steps. - The first steps were taken by UNESCO;

2. the use of conversives — 20 people died in a crush. -The crush killed 20 people.

3)the use of the personal subject and the nominal predicate — It was silent in the room.- the room turned silent.

Some means of making the subject rhematic: the constructions there is/there are, it is necessary, inversion, etc.

In Modern English Word order has 3 functions:

1. Grammatical(the main);

2. Communicative;

3. Emphatic;

So, there are other ways of expressing FSP :

1. Word order is a very important grammatical means. It expresses syntactic relations between words in a sentence. It helps:

• To distinguish between declarative and interrogative sentences;

• To differentiate syntactic relations between Subj and the Direct Object: Tom loves Mary;

The main rule of Word order is that in affirmative clauses the Direct Object can’t stand immediately before the Predicative, between the Indirect and Direct Object (The nurse gave Mary her daughter);

• To express attributive connection ( people here rise early / People rise here early);

2. Communicative function

• Distinguishing between the Theme (front position) and the Rheme ( final position);

• Connecting sentences in a text;

3. Emphatic function

The New precedes the Given ( Very tired she looked).

As the main function of the Word Order is grammatical, there are other means of indicating the theme and the rheme.

Thematic elements are marked by:

• The definite article;

• Loose parathesis (as for me..);

• Detached parts of the sentence;

Rhemetic elements are markead by:

• The indefinite article;

• Particles (even, only, just etc.);

• Negations ( none of us can fly);

• Cleff sentences( what I want to know is);

• Emphatic constructions (It’s he who..);

• Special structures make the subject rhematic ( it’s necessary);

• DO makes the predicate rhematic;