Actual division of sentence and text. What are theme and rhema? What is rhema in Russian?

As a rule, actual division is considered only at the sentence level.

Current division of the proposal- division of a sentence in context into the original part of the message - topic(given) and what is asserted about it - rhema(new). Any member (or members) of a sentence, depending on the context or situation, can act as a theme or rheme:

“The book (topic) on the table (rheme)” - (answer to the question: “Where is the book?”);

“On the table (topic) is a book (rheme)” (answer to the question: “What’s on the table?”).

The components of the actual division of a sentence are recognized:

By intonation (character of stress, pausing);

By position (usually the theme is placed at the beginning of the phrase, the rheme at the end);

By emphatic-restrictive adverbs (“exactly”, “only”);

According to removal-excretory structures;

According to the context.

Direct order of theme - rheme prevails and is called progressive, objective, non-emphatic.

Reverse rhema order - theme called regressive, subjective, emphatic, although the latter is not always determined by the purposes of emphasis (cf. the initial position of the subject-rheme in languages ​​with a fixed word order (for example, English. Suddenly the telephone rang at the end of the corridor).

The position of a rheme at the beginning (or middle) of a sentence can also be determined by: the need for its positional contact with the corresponding member of the preceding sentence; dismemberment of common rhema; rhythm; the desire of the speaker to quickly express the main thing. In this case, the rheme is recognized by context - by subtracting from the sentence a redundant self-evident topic, usually omitted or pushed to the end (for example, “I want to ask you a question. How did he seem to you? - He’s an old man already”).

Emphase is the selection of any element of the utterance. Emphatic models - constructions, phrases, combinations of lexical and grammatical elements - are naturally perceived as such in contrast to neutral ones. They can not only emphasize individual members of a sentence, but also give expressive and emotional coloring to the entire sentence as a whole. They are possible due to the fact that the grammatical form has both denotative and connotative meaning. By definition E.I. Schendels, denotative meaning– this is the entire volume of meanings of the form, with the exception of its emotional and expressive coloring. Connotative meaning- this is a series of different kinds of subjective meanings of form - expressiveness, intensification (figurativeness, metaphoricality), emotional effect.

Means of expressing emphasis:

Inversion(it highlights one or more elements of a statement, serves to create the effect of speed and dynamism, a means of closer logical connection between sentences, in poetry it is the goal of achieving rhythm and rhyme);

Negation or double negative;

Using the as…as model in combination with indefinite pronouns: any, anybody, anything.

When translating from English into Russian, it is necessary to take into account thematic dependencies. What is it saying? (topic) and what is said? (rheme). (A few students of our university (Rheme) were reported to take part in the competition). Taking into account the typological differences, the most adequate translation solution would be to change the sequence of the components of the original sentence (Several students from our university (rema) reportedly took part in the competition.)

When translating emphasis, logical stress, features of theme and rheme, all lexico-grammatical techniques are used, namely antonymic translation, colon (graphical means), ellipsis (omission, for example, of a verb), lexical way (amplification: intensifying adverb), syntactic way ( restructuring of the proposal).

Current division of the proposal

o The division of a sentence in a specific communicative situation into the original part of the message (topic) and the new part of the message (rheme).

o Czech linguist V. Mathesius (1882-1945).

Update

o Actualization (Sh. Bally) – transformation of a linguistic sign in an act of communication into a significant one.

o The angle from which material information is presented.

o The same sentence may take on different meanings due to the communicative purpose of the speaker.

Current information in the offer

Transmission of up-to-date information

Current information is transmitted:

using a sequence of sentence elements,

place of logical stress,

· dividing a sentence into theme and rheme.

Theme and Rheme Theme is what serves as the starting point of a sentence. A kind of springboard for deploying up-to-date information. Usually known to some extent by the recipient of the message. On Thursday I... / I read a book... / On Thursday I... /

Rheme is what is communicated about the topic. It constitutes the core and main content of the statement.

...I'll give you a book.

...I'll give it to you on Thursday.

...I'll give you the book.

General means of actual organization of utterances

· Word order is the arrangement of elements of a sentence structure in a certain linear sequence.

· Intonation – as a means of actual division is manifested in oral speech.

Word order

· Neutral speech: Topic + rheme:

In St. Petersburg / there will be a Victor Tsoi park.

· Expressive speech: rheme + theme:

Youth dance groups are in great demand now

Intonation

Its functions:

1. denotes the boundary between theme and rheme;

2. phrasal stress marks the center of the rheme

Ways to highlight a topic

· Nominative topics:

Scientific potential. How to dispose of it?; Tours in Moscow. What do they mean?

· Deliberative turnover:

As for...that; If we talk about... it's worth noting

Methods for isolating rhema

· Word order

· Particles: Autumn / has just begun; The fact that the festival / takes place in Moscow / is symbolic

· Parcellation: Everyone here knows each other. But only tentatively

The division into theme and rheme is not related to grammatical division (into subject and predicate)

Order P – T as one of the ways of expressing subjective-modal meanings

· The rheme before the Topic is highlighted due to logical stress in the phrase.

Where is the hare?

In a hat (R.) / hare (T.).

Indivisible utterances are those that are not divided into Theme and Rheme.

Text structure

· The structure of the text is determined by the nature of the connection between neighboring sentences, that is, how the topic and rheme of the subsequent sentence relate to the topic and rheme of the previous one.

· There are 2 types of connection of sentences: chain connection (I have a friend Vera. Vera / is a student. She loves to study) and parallel connection (Vera is a student. Vera is interested in astronomy).

Parallel and sequential structure of the text Chain connection (sequential structure of the text):

T1 – P1 / T2(P1) – P2 / T3(P2) – P3.

I have a friend Vera. She / loves cats very much. She has more than five of these animals.

Parallel communication (parallel text structure):

T1- P1; T2 – P2; T3 – P3 + general topic

The sun / shines brightly, // and its rays / bathe in puddles with sparrows. / The river / swells and darkens.

Methods for implementing chain communication

Parallel communication Components are not interconnected, they are compared. The sentences are semantically independent. The proposals are united by a common theme (topic). Parallel communication tends more toward description.

Masha draws a Christmas tree. Igor is reading a book. Zina sings a song.

Our loyalty was tested with a hot iron. Our pride was tested by tanks.

Methods for implementing parallel communication

Types of connection of sentences and text structure Parallel connection - text of a parallel structure. Chain connection is a text of sequential structure. Real text constantly moves from one structure of speech to another.

Some word combinations and phrases mean something completely different from what would result from simply adding up the words used. Why can the same sentence be understood differently if the semantic emphasis is shifted from one word to another? If a sentence is in context, then the words surrounding it usually provide clarifications that help you avoid making mistakes. But sometimes it is very difficult to draw the right conclusion. In addition, it greatly complicates the perception of information, because it requires too much effort to put pieces of sentences and phrases into place. Taking into account the problems of explanation and perception, it is important to separate the syntactic and actual division of the sentence.

If you don’t understand right away which is the main one and which is the dependent one, and what the speaker is making a statement about, based on already known facts, and what he wants to present as unique information, you won’t get either a fluent reading or a worthwhile dialogue with your interlocutor. Therefore, when presenting, it is better to coordinate your words with certain rules and established norms characteristic of the language used. Arguing in the opposite direction, the learning process will be easier if you become familiar with the principles of logical sentence formation and the most common cases of use.

Syntax and semantics

We can say that the actual division of sentences is the logical connections and accents, or rather, their explanation or detection. Misunderstandings often arise when communicating even in your native language, and when it comes to operations with a foreign language, you need to take into account cultural differences in addition to standard problems. In different languages, one or another word order traditionally prevails, and the actual division of a sentence must take into account cultural characteristics.

If we think in broad categories, all languages ​​can be divided into two groups: synthetic and analytical. In synthetic languages, many parts of speech have several word forms that reflect the individual characteristics of an object, phenomenon or action relative to what is happening. For nouns, these are, for example, the meanings of gender, person, number and case; for verbs, such indicators are tenses, inflection, mood, conjugation, perfection, etc. Each word has an ending or suffix (and sometimes even changes in the root) corresponding to the function it performs, which allows morphemes to respond sensitively to the changing climate in the sentence. Russian is a synthetic language, since its logic and syntax of phrases rely heavily on the variability of morphemes, and combinations are possible in absolutely any order.

There are also in which only one form corresponds to each word, and the meaning of a statement can only be conveyed through means of expressing the actual division of the sentence as the correct combination and order of words. If you rearrange parts of a sentence, the meaning can change dramatically because the direct connections between the elements are broken. In analytical languages, parts of speech can have word forms, but their number, as a rule, is much lower than in synthetic ones. Here there is some compromise between the immutability of words, rigidly fixed word order and flexibility, mobility, and mutual reflection.

Word - phrase - sentence - text - culture

The actual and grammatical division of a sentence implies that practically language has two sides - firstly, the semantic load, that is, the logical structure, and secondly, the actual display, that is, the syntactic structure. This applies equally to elements of different levels - to individual words, phrases, turns of phrase, sentences, the context of sentences, the text as a whole and its context. The semantic load is of primary importance - because it is obvious that, by and large, this is the only purpose of language. However, the actual display cannot exist separately, since, in turn, its only goal is to ensure the correct and unambiguous transmission of semantic load. The most famous example? “Execution cannot be pardoned.” In the English version, it may sound like this: “Execution is unacceptable then obviation” (“Execution, is unacceptable then obviation”, “Execution is unacceptable then, obviation”). To correctly understand this instruction, it is necessary to determine whether the current members are the group “execute”, “cannot be pardoned” or the group “cannot be executed”, “pardon”.

In this situation, it is impossible to draw a conclusion without syntactic indications - that is, without a comma or any other punctuation mark. This is true for the existing word order, but if the sentence looked like “execute cannot be pardoned,” the corresponding conclusion could be drawn based on their arrangement. Then “execute” would be a direct instruction, and “cannot be pardoned” would be a separate statement, because the ambiguity of the position of the word “impossible” would disappear.

Theme, rheme and units of division

Actual division of sentences involves dividing the syntactic structure into logical components. They can be either members of a sentence or blocks of words closely united in meaning. Typically, terms such as theme, rheme, and unit of division are used to describe the means of actual division of a sentence. The subject is already known information, or the background part of the message. The rhema is the part that is emphasized. It contains fundamentally important information, without which the proposal would lose its purpose. In Russian, the rheme is usually found at the end of the sentence. Although it is not certain, the rhema can actually be located anywhere. However, when a rheme is located, for example, at the very beginning of a sentence, nearby phrases usually contain either a stylistic or semantic indication of it.

The correct definition of theme and rheme helps to understand the essence of the text. Units of division are words, or phrases indivisible in meaning. Elements that add detail to the picture. Their recognition is necessary in order to perceive the text not word by word, but through logical combinations.

"Logical" subject and "logical" object

In a sentence there is always a subject group and a predicate group. The subject group explains who performs the action, or whom the predicate describes (if the predicate expresses a state). The predicate group says what the subject does, or in one way or another reveals its nature. There is also an addition that is attached to the predicate - it indicates an object or living object to which the action of the subject passes. Moreover, it is not always easy to figure out what is the subject and what is the complement. The subject in is a logical object - that is, the object on which the action is performed. And the addition takes the form of a logical agent - that is, the one who performs the action. The actual division of a sentence in English identifies three criteria by which one can make sure that there is a subject and that there is an object. Firstly, the subject always agrees with the verb in person and number. Secondly, it usually takes the position before the verb, and the object - after. Thirdly, it carries the semantic role of the subject. But if reality contradicts any of these criteria, then first of all consistency with the verb group is taken into account. In this case, the complement is called the “logical” subject, and the subject, accordingly, is called the “logical object”.

Disputes over the composition of the predicate group

Also, the actual division of a sentence gives rise to a lot of controversy over what is considered a predicate group - the verb itself, or the verb and its complements. This is complicated by the fact that sometimes there is no clear boundary between them. In modern linguistics, it is generally accepted that the predicate, depending on the grammatical scheme of the sentence, is either the verb itself (main verb), or the verb itself with auxiliary and modal verbs (modal verbs and auxiliaries), or a linking verb and the nominal part of a compound predicate , and the rest is not included in the group.

Inversions, idioms and inversions as idioms

The thought that our statement must convey is always concentrated at a certain point. The actual division of the sentence is designed to recognize that this point is a peak and attention should be focused on it. If the emphasis is placed incorrectly, misunderstandings or misunderstandings of the idea may occur. Of course, there are certain grammatical rules in the language, however, they describe only the general principles of the formation of constructions and are used for template construction. When it comes to logical placement of emphasis, we are often forced to change the structure of the statement, even if this contradicts the laws of education. And many of these syntactic deviations from the norm acquired the status of “official”. That is, they are entrenched in the language and are actively used in normative speech. Such phenomena occur when they free the author from resorting to more complex and overly cumbersome constructions, and when the end sufficiently justifies the means. As a result, speech is enriched with expressiveness and becomes more diverse.

Some idiomatic phrases could not be conveyed within the framework of the standard operation of sentence members. For example, the actual division of a sentence in English takes into account such a phenomenon as the inversion of sentence members. Depending on the expected effect, it is achieved in different ways. In a general sense, inversion means moving members to an unusual place. As a rule, the subject and predicate become participants in inversions. Their usual order is subject, then predicate, then object and adverbial. In fact, interrogative constructions are also inversions in a sense: part of the predicate is moved forward of the subject. As a rule, the nonsense part of it is transferred, which can be expressed by a modal or auxiliary verb. Inversion here serves the same purpose - to place a semantic emphasis on a specific word (group of words), to draw the reader/listener’s attention to a certain detail of the statement, to show what is different from the statement. It’s just that these transformations have existed for so long, have come into use so naturally and are so widely used that we no longer treat them as something out of the ordinary.

Rhematical selection of minor members

In addition to the usual subject-predicate inversion, any member of the sentence can be brought to the fore - a definition, circumstance or addition. Sometimes this looks quite natural and is provided for by the syntactic structure of the language, and sometimes it serves as an indicator of a change in the semantic role, and entails a rearrangement of the remaining participants in the phrase. The actual division of a sentence in the English language suggests that if the author needs to emphasize any detail, he puts it in first place, if it cannot be highlighted intonationally, or if it can be highlighted, but under certain conditions ambiguity may arise. Or if the author simply does not have enough of the effect that can be achieved through intonation highlighting. At the same time, there are often rearrangements of subject and action in the grammatical basis.

Word order

To talk about various kinds of inversions as a means of highlighting one or another part of a sentence, you need to consider the standard word order and the actual division of the sentence with a typical, template approach. Since the terms often consist of several words, and their meaning should be understood only as a whole, it will also be necessary to note how the compound terms are formed.

In the standard layout, the subject always comes before the predicate. It can be expressed by a noun or a pronoun in the general case, a gerund, an infinitive, and the Predicate is expressed through a verb in the form of the infinitive itself; through a verb that does not carry a specific meaning in itself with the addition of a semantic verb; through an auxiliary verb and a nominal part, represented, as a rule, by a noun in the general case, a pronoun in the objective case, or an adjective. It can be a linking verb or a modal verb. The nominal part can also be equally expressed by other parts of speech and phrases.

Cumulative meaning of phrases

The theory of actual division of a sentence says that a unit of division, correctly defined, helps to reliably find out what is said in the text. In combinations, words can acquire a new, unusual, or not entirely characteristic meaning for them individually. For example, prepositions often change the content of a verb; they give it many different meanings, even opposite ones. Definitions, which can be completely different parts of speech, and even subordinate clauses, specify the meaning of the word to which they are attached. Specification, as a rule, limits the range of properties of an object or phenomenon, and distinguishes it from the mass of similar ones. In such cases, the actual division of sentences must be done carefully and carefully, because sometimes the connections are so twisted and erased by time that associating an object with any class, relying only on part of the phrase, significantly distances us from the actual essence.

A unit of division can be called a fragment of text that, without losing contextual connections, can be determined using hermeneutics - that is, which, acting as a whole, can be paraphrased or translated. Its meaning may go deeper, in particular, or be located at a more superficial level, but not deviate from its direction. For example, if we are talking about an upward movement, then it should remain an upward movement. The nature of the action, including physical and stylistic features, is preserved, but freedom in the interpretation of details remains - which, of course, is best used in order to bring the resulting version as close as possible to the original and to reveal its potential.

Finding logic in context

The difference in syntactic and logical division is as follows - from the point of view of grammar, the most important member of a sentence is the subject. In particular, the actual division of sentences in the Russian language is based on this statement. Although, from the position of some modern linguistic theories, this is the predicate. Therefore, we will take a generalized position and say that the main member is one of the components of the grammatical basis. When, from a logical point of view, absolutely any member can turn out to be the central figure.

The concept of actual division of a sentence means by the main figure that this element represents a key source of information, a word or phrase, which, in fact, prompted the author to speak (write). It is also possible to draw more extensive connections and parallels if we take the statement in context. As we know, the grammatical rules in English stipulate that a sentence must contain both a subject and a predicate. If it is not possible or necessary to use the present subject, the formal subject present in the grammatical basis as, for example, “It” or “there” is used. However, sentences are often coordinated with neighboring ones and included in the overall concept of the text. Thus, it turns out that members can be omitted, even such important ones as the subject or predicate, which are irrational for the overall picture. In this case, the actual division of sentences is possible only outside the framework of periods and exclamation marks, and the acceptor is forced to go for clarification to the surrounding vicinity - that is, to the context. Moreover, in the English language there are examples when, even in context, there is no tendency to reveal these members.

In addition to special cases of use in narratives, demonstrative sentences (Imperatives) and exclamations are routinely used for such manipulations. The actual division of a simple sentence is not always easier than in complex constructions due to the fact that members are often omitted. In exclamations, in general, only one single word can be left, often an interjection or particle. And in this case, in order to correctly interpret the statement, you need to turn to the cultural characteristics of the language.

ACTUAL MEMBER OF STATEMENT

THEME AND RHEME IN A SENTENCE

In addition to the traditional theory of dividing a sentence into main and minor members in the 20th century. the theory of “actual division” of a sentence (more precisely, a statement, since the structure of the sentence itself does not play a role here) arose . According to this theory, the most important part (denoted by the term “rheme”, in English - rheme or focus) and a part that acts as a “background”, a starting point for the main part of the message (“topic”, English. theme or topic). The rheme carries a logical emphasis and conveys some new information (for the sake of which the statement is pronounced), while the topic contains “old”, already known information. Yes, in a sentence John sentthosea postcard (with phrasal emphasis on the last word) if it answers the question What did he send? The rheme is the direct object, the topic is the rest of the sentence. By highlighting other members of the sentence with logical emphasis, we can turn the prepositional object into a rheme, cf. John sent the postcard to me (answer to question: To whom?) or subject, cf. John sent me the postcard(Who!). In an affirmative sentence, as you can see, the rheme is most easily determined by asking the question that the sentence answers. In a private interrogative sentence, the rheme is the question word itself (What where When!), in a general interrogative - a predicate.

To emphasize the rheme, in addition to logical stress, special emphatic constructions can be used (It was John who sent me the postcard; It was to me that John sent the postcard), introducing an auxiliary verb to emphasize the predicate (John did send me a postcard), as well as emphatic inversion, which is necessary in an English sentence, when we place the logically accentuated member of a sentence in a place in the sentence that is not typical for it under normal conditions. Moving a minor member to the beginning of a sentence is accompanied by partial inversion: Only to me did John send a postcard; Never before had he sent me a postcard. Placing the subject in final position is accompanied by complete inversion: In the middle of the room stood a big table (answer to question What stood in the center!), in contrast to the non-inversion version The table stood in the middle of the room, answering a question Where!.

Changes in the location of sentence members that are not related to emphasis are also possible. Since the final position in a sentence is most common for phrasal stress, in stylistically “neutral” (non-emphatic) sentence variants the rheme is usually the word at the end. Yes, a proposal Notsent me this letter yesterday (with neutral intonation reading) answers the question When!, and the rheme in it is the circumstance of time. In option Yesterday he sentthosea postcard the circumstance becomes the theme, while the rheme is represented either by the rest of the part (answer to the question What happened yesterday!), or the last word (What he sent me yesterday!). The circumstance of the manner of action usually follows the predicate if it is a rheme; Wed Notleft the room very quickly. However, if another member of the sentence is rematized, such a circumstance may appear in preposition to the verb; Wed Notquickly left the room or Quickly, he rose and left the room, where the rheme is represented by the words to the right of the adverb (question: What did he do quickly?).

It is the rheme of the statement that is always preserved in an incomplete sentence, since only thematic elements that name something already known from the previous context can be omitted: Where did Peter go? - (Peter went) To London ; Who went to London? - Peter; Did Peter go to London? - He did .

Let's consider semantic aspect of division into theme and rheme. In a question like Where did Peter go? The rheme is represented by an interrogative pronoun, while the subject and predicate form the topic. By asking such a question, we naturally know in advance that Peter has left somewhere; this part of the sentence, therefore, is not covered by the interrogative modality (the fact of Peter’s departure is not questioned, but is accepted as true). In other words, this message is a presupposition - some pre-known statement, which we rely on as true and which we only repeat in the statement as a starting point for the main - new - message.

Thus, the rheme is that part of the sentence that is directly included in its modal frame (it is covered by the interrogative, affirmative or negative modality of the statement), and the theme is that part that stands outside the main modal frame, forming a presupposition. As we can see, this sentence (simple in structure) contains two statements with different modalities: the presuppositional, thematic part contains a statement (“As you know, Peter went somewhere”), and the rhematic part contains the actual interrogative statement (“Where?”) .

In the affirmative answer to this question Peter went to London rheme is also represented by circumstance; There are also two hidden statements here: “As you know, Peter moved from here to some other place; that place is London." Since in this case both statements have an affirmative modality, the opposition between theme and rheme is not as noticeable here as in the question; That is why the division into theme and rheme in affirmative sentences is most easily done on the basis of the question to which such a sentence answers. Essentially, the two statements hidden in such a sentence differ only in the time of their utterance: the topic is some previously made statement (“it is known that it was previously stated ...”), only repeated as a starting point, while the rheme communicates what is being asserted exactly At the moment.

Please note that the rhema may include thematic inclusions. Yes, in a sentence Peter went to the city of London a rheme is represented by a circumstance, which includes a definite article and a proper name, and, therefore, its content includes a presupposition (thematic information) about the existence of a city with that name. However, it is important that what is actually new in this sentence is not the message about the existence of London, but the message that “the place where Peter went, there is London" those. message about the identity of two spatial points. Thus, it does not seem justified to conclude by a number of authors that rheme is not necessarily associated with the indefiniteness of a noun, and the theme is not necessarily associated with definiteness. In fact, a rheme really always carries new information, and in the absence of any additional presuppositions, a rhematic noun always has an indefinite determiner (Notcame to a big town ), however, it is important to separate thematic inclusions from the new message itself (cf. Notwent to London). Cases like One day a little girl went to the wood, where uncertainty seems to be included in the topic (highlighted in font), are associated with the multiplicity of such sentences.

It is usually indicated that there may exist things that cannot be divided into theme and rheme, i.e. purely rhematic statements: these include, for example, one-part sentences like It is cold; Winter; Winter has come; Cold; Winter; Winter came and so on. Indeed, in them all lexically expressed information is a rheme, but in these sentences there is also hidden, lexically not expressed presuppositional information (theme). So, Cold means “it’s cold at the moment in the place where the speaker is” (cf. “We cannot say “it’s raining”, “it’s snowing” without mentally imagining the environment in which the process is taking place, no matter how unclear it may be) ). Consequently, in such sentences there is always hidden information, presented as something known, about the presence of the speaker, his act of speech, the time and place of the speech act. Apparently, in principle, there cannot be sentences that contain only new information that is not based on something already known in advance, i.e. not repeating this old information as a topic. Even in sentences like Has there ever been an event somewhere? given the uncertainty of all components, there are undoubtedly hidden presuppositional elements: past tense of the verb (was) indicates precedence of the moment of speech, and, therefore, the sentence includes a presupposition about the presence of an act of speech, a speaker, a moment of speech, the place where the speaker is, etc.

Let us consider the relations of production between sentences of different types of actual division. The presence of a presupposition in a sentence means that it includes in its content some previous statement, i.e. semantically derived from it. The most elementary (containing the smallest number of presuppositions) include sentences like Not really, reporting the existence of a certain phenomenon, So, in a sentence Are there any students in the group who would have bad marks? the interrogative modality covers only the main part, while the subordinate clause is devoid of its own modality (it contains neither a statement nor a question, as indicated by the form of the mood) and, therefore, does not represent a presupposition (repetition of an old statement). The same applies to the answer to this question: Yes, there are students in the group who have straight A's(with logical emphasis on the verb There is).

In a sentence with two equal logical stresses(with a rise in tone at the end of the first part) There are students in the group who have bad grades the main part contains the message “There are students in the group with some distinctive feature,” while the subordinate part is a second statement that reveals this feature: “this distinctive feature is the presence of two marks in these students.” In such a complex sentence there are two separate statements connected by a sequence and, therefore, two rhemas, and when moving to the second statement, the rheme of the first statement (“some students”) becomes the theme (presupposition) of the second (“these students” / “they”). An equivalent paraphrase of such a double sentence is statements like Some students in the group have D's; the indefinite pronoun indicates the rheme of the first hidden message (some students= “there are a certain number of students in the group with a distinctive feature”), which is further transformed into the topic of the second part (“these students”); The rheme of the second part will be the predicate group (“they have twos”). Similarly, sentences with adverbials like one day, one day always two-loop, i.e. contain the hidden statement “there was a day when...” and then a statement revealing what exactly happened on that day.

Bivocal sentences, in turn, serve as the basis for semantically more complex utterances. Yes, pronominal question (Who has arrived?) and the answer to it (Peter arrived) contain the presupposition “as is known, someone has arrived,” and, therefore, are derived from the described two-semester sentence with an indefinite pronoun. Likewise, sentences like Cold; Spring came answer the question What's happening? and, therefore, contain the presupposition “something is happening,” again formed on the basis of a two-reme utterance. Offer Peter broke the cup(as an answer to the question What's happened?) is already a multi-rhem utterance, in which the rheme of each statement turns into the topic of the next one: “(As is known, some event took place); (it consists in the fact that) someone broke something; (what was broken) there is a cup; (the one who broke) is Peter” (the presuppositions of each of the statements are marked in brackets). Of course, in such a statement there are other thematic inclusions, for example: “it is known that there is a man named Peter,” etc.

Speaking about the actual division of a structurally complex sentence, one should take into account in relation to which modal frame (to which utterance) the thematic and rhematic status of the parts is determined. Main part of the sentence Peter is sure that the book is interesting contains a statement in which the predicate is a rheme and the subject is a theme. The modality of “confidence (Peter)” specified in the main part covers the predicate in the subordinate part interesting(rheme clause), whereas book represents the theme of this second statement, which rests on the presupposition of the existence of some previously known book. There may be cases when, in addition to the thematic-rhematic division within each part of the sentence, one of these parts as a whole represents the rheme (topic) of some third, hidden statement. So, Peter made a mistake only because he was inattentive is a multi-rhem sentence containing a number of sequential statements, and the rheme of each of them is in turn transformed into the topic of the following statement: “(A man named Peter) made a mistake; (this event) had only one cause; (this reason is that Peter) was inattentive.”

The main means of actual division of sentences in oral speech:

word order(the theme is usually placed at the beginning of the phrase, and the rheme at the end), which is not only an indicator of actual division, but And itself to a certain extent depends on it (if, for example, the topic is a circumstance, then the predicate precedes the subject);

intonation(on the theme it increases, on the rheme it decreases);

pause.

Differences between theme and rheme.

by value :

Topics - the given, the defined, is correlated with that element of the constitution that seems already known, present And in the consciousness of the speaker, and (according to his conviction) in the consciousness of the listener, which does not require special explanation;

rhemas - uncertain, new, i.e. something that has not yet been identified;

by way of expression :

Topics- any words or phrases that name a fact, object, person, action, sign, etc., already mentioned in the pre-text or suggested by the constitution;

rhemas - the utterance is constructed to help the addressee, among a variety of objects in general and objects of a given class, find and identify the one about which the interlocutor is going to talk. In some languages, the definiteness of an object called a noun is expressed by the definite article;

in relation to the members of the sentence :

Topics - correlates with the concepts of subject (grammatical subject) and logical subject, but the subject of the message can be the referent of any other constituent of the sentence. The topic can also be the predicate;

rhemas - correlates with the logical concept of a predicate, i.e. predicate;

by place in the sentence :

Topics - initial place in a sentence;

rhemas - any except the first;

of necessity :

Topics - can be “empty” and “formal” (“fictitious”);

rhemas - act as the “center of attention”;

omitting if possible :

Topics- is allowed, then communicatively indivisible (i.e., essentially rhematic) statements are obtained;

rhemas - not allowed;

by intonation :

Topics - does not stand out particularly in terms of intonation;

rhemas - may be marked by pauses, high pitch and strong stress.

Thematization test (or topicalization) - the ability of a particular component to take first place in the sentence is tested(without changing the intonation contour, while maintaining the neutral nature of the statement - without emphasis, without expressive coloring).

Question and answer test (to identify a rheme): a rheme is something that serves as an answer to the question: What is reported about Anton!

Focus Contrast (prominence, excretion, rematization) - phenomenon highlighting something new (rheme) using intonation means(especially emphatic stress), isolation in the initial position, split structures, particles.

Empathy (Greek empatheia empathy, sympathy, English empathy sympathy, experience; the ability to put oneself in the place of another) or point of view - a phenomenon that suggests the possibility of variation in the ways of packaging transmitted semantic information. There cannot be two focuses of empathy in one sentence, otherwise the sentence becomes unmarked (incorrect). The speaker may take an objective point of view (zero empathy).

In a normal situation, the speaker gives preference to himself (that is, adheres to his own point of view), then to the listener, and only then to a third party. First preferred Human, Then animate creature, and only then inanimate object. Empathy is first associated with data And topic, and then with new And rhem.

This article will discuss a question that is very useful for authors and speakers, and it is related to the meaning of the sequence of words when expressing our thoughts. The school education program includes a superficial acquaintance of students with such a unit of text division as a paragraph. In philology, the problem of segmenting a text and isolating its structural elements is considered not only within the framework of paragraphs.

Linguistic scientists have always been interested in the speech act as a way of transmitting and perceiving information and influencing the addressee. After all, communication would not make sense if there were no clearly identified and complete components in its process.

This topic has been developing in philology for more than 100 years. At the same time, despite the large number of works devoted to the phenomenon of actual division, many aspects remain not fully understood. Discussions are being held regarding the nature of actual division, its relationship with other phenomena in the structure of communication.

What is actual division?

Current division- this is the principle used in philology of dividing text and sentences into:

1. the original, originally given component (what is already known), called topic, starting point or basis;
2. a new component approved by the author, called rhema or core;
3. elements of transition between theme and rheme.

Ontological paradigms of actual division

In understanding such a complex and multifaceted topic, familiarity with the development of theory, ideas and approaches to the problem plays an important role. In the study by linguists of issues related to actual division, it is possible to distinguish at least 4 stages that correspond to 4 ontological paradigms ( according to N.V. Ivanov, Doctor of Philology).

Genetic paradigm (G. Gabelenz, G. Paul, etc.). German neogrammarians were the first to highlight psychological division in sentence structure along with syntactic division. In the theory they developed, psychological division meant the expression of the semantic orientation of a sentence, based on the development of the thoughts expressed in it. It was, in comparison with the syntactic, a secondary structural factor.

Structural-syntactic paradigm. It was finally formed in the works of the Czechoslovak philologist V. Mathesius (the head and organizer of the Prague Linguistic Circle, whose activities contributed to the development of the theory of structural linguistics; it also included B. Gavranek, B. Trnka, graduates of Moscow University - N. S. Trubetskoy, R. O Jacobson and others). V. Mathesius was the first to use the term “actual division of a sentence” as the name of a speech phenomenon. He considered it, in contrast to the German neogrammarians, as an equal order, parity with syntactic division, based on its importance in communication.

Functional-semantic paradigm. The actual division of a sentence is considered in this direction from two points of view - communicative and cognitive. Epistemological interpretation is closely related to the study of the problem of the relationship between thinking and language, therefore, here the actual division is synonymous with the logical-semantic one. The communicative approach was initially based on the opinion that actual division is akin to the communicative function of an utterance, and communicative conditioning was considered the root cause of actual division. But later, due to the diversification of a number of criteria, and the emergence of broader approaches to conditionality, many provisions were revised.

Semiotic approach. A young approach that is based on the understanding of actual division as the key to the speech phenomenology of the sign. The sentence is treated as a sign, which is studied in unity with its nominative and predicative functions. It is a promising direction, but, according to linguists, it is too early to talk about a formed discursive-semiotic paradigm.

Current text division

The basic unit of communication is text, as a set of semantic, lexical, grammatical, intonation or graphic connections between words, phrases, sentences and phrases that form the unity of the statement.

The Stylistic Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Russian Language gives the following definition of text articulation: parameter, property (grammatical category) of the text as a product of the speech-creative process; function of the compositional plan of the text of the entire work; the presence of discrete units of text, determined by the communicative and semantic unity and integrity of the text of the work.

The main provisions of the theory of actual division are generally accepted. But since the 80s. In the twentieth century, there is a tendency to shift the emphasis of syntactic science from the study of theme-rhematic division towards an increasing interest in the interpretation of different structures of utterances from the point of view of communicative and textual tasks. This is largely due to the scientific activities of the Soviet philologist I.R. Galperin, who studied the structure of written text. In it he distinguished 2 types of division:

• volumetric-pragmatic;
• context-variable.

The first type includes the division of text into volumes, books, parts, chapters, paragraphs, super-phrase unities. The second includes speech-creative acts, such as the author’s speech, description, narration, dialogues, quotes, direct speech.

The main units of the sounding text (its speech organization) are the superphrasal unity (SFU) and the utterance. SFU is a complex structural unity, consisting of at least two independent sentences united by a common meaning, and is part of complete communication. The SFU is constructed from utterances (implemented sentences, lexically filled, denoting the specific meaning of speech units). From the point of view of text division tasks, not every sentence is a statement, but every statement is a sentence.

Superphrasal unity is always compositionally monothematic. The transition from one topic to another is called the boundary of superphrasal unity. At the same time, it is important that it is characterized by communicative continuity between its constituent structural elements. A text, as a complete communicative entity, presupposes a combination of statements in which each subsequent one has a minimal part of the information contained in the previous one.

Theme and Rheme

A sentence is a structural unit of syntax, which consists of elements occupying certain syntactic positions, members of the sentence. This approach to division is considered formal and involves identifying in the sentence the main members, subject and predicate (structural core), as well as spreading members.

In contrast to formal division, actual division is associated with the implementation of a sentence in speech practice as a unit of information transmission, which must be formalized in accordance with the communicative task. The category “relevant” in this case focuses on the fact that the division is thematically comparable to the context or situation at the time of speech.

In every sentence, regardless of word order and phrasal stress, two parts are almost always distinguished: the original utterance and the communicative purpose of the utterance. But there are also actual undivided sentences in which the first part is omitted. Example: “The frost hit.”

Returning to the immediate subject, we point out that the actual division is precisely the selection in the sentence of the elements described above:

• Original part ( subject) – a known piece of information or information that can be guessed from a situation.
• Communicative purpose of the utterance ( rhema) – new information previously unknown to the listener.

The terms theme and rheme are generally accepted in Russian. In English, along with the same names (theme and rheme), the dichotomy topic and comment (topic and comment), as well as topic and focus (topic and focus) is much more often used. The concepts of basis and core, subject and predicate are also similar in content.

An interesting fact is that the actual division does not coincide with the constructive-syntactic one, because depending on the conditions, any member of a sentence can be both a topic and a rheme. Example: "Barcelona(subject) won(rheme) ", "Won(subject) Barcelona(rheme) ». At the same time, in the actual division of two-part sentences, the subject usually acts as a theme, and the predicate as a rheme.

Thus, information is created through the dynamic combination of theme and rheme. Some scientists, for example, the representative of the genetic theory G. Paul, also identify a third transitional (or connecting) member. It is expressed by a verbal predicate containing tense and modal indicators, but is not widely used in modern science. Moreover, the very expediency of identifying a third member is questioned by many.

Methods of conveying the components of the actual division of a sentence in speech

1. Positionally. Most often, the theme is realized at the beginning of the phrase, and the rheme at the end. This sequence is called progressive (objective, non-emphatic). Otherwise (rheme-theme), the sequence is regressive (subjective, emphatic). This order can be explained by a number of reasons: the positional contact of the rheme with a member of the previous sentence, rhythm, the desire of the speaker to focus on the main thing as soon as possible.

2. Intonationally. It is conveyed by placing accents and pauses.

3. Removal excretory structures. This can be, but not always, an agentive addition - an addition to the passive, indicating the source of the action - the agent. In English, the indefinite article can play this role.

4. Eminent-restrictive adverbs. Yes, particle Not always emits a rheme. Example: Ostriches don't fly. Particles A, same usually highlight the topic. Example: Everyone went to football, but Sasha stayed at home.

5. Context. It is conveyed by describing a clarification to the phrase.