Функциональная перспектива английского высказывания (Functional Sentence Perspective exemplified by

Introduction 2
Part 1 Functional Sentence Perspective in modern linguistics 4
1.1 Historical position of studying of Functional Sentence Perspective 4
1.2 Systemic Functional Linguistics in Halliday’s Works 7
1.3 Vilém Mathesius’ Approach 8
1.4 Functional Sentence Perspective of Jan Firbas and Brno School 10
1.5 Topic-Focus Articulation of Petr Sgall and Prague School 11
1.6 Schematic Comparison of Three Czech Approaches to Information Structure of Sentence 15
Part 2 Functional Sentence Perspective Exemplified by ‘The Last Leaf’ by O. Henry 18
Conclusion 29
Bibliography 31

"There are two simple clauses in the firstsentence of the paragraph; the first of them contains such which denotes rheme (nonsense), and the second one includes inversion (complained Sue), because of structure of author’s remark (a verb + a proper noun instead of a pronoun), and prepositional absolute construction (rheme) that gives extra information about speaker’s actions. Use of particle so stresses that the predicate love is rheme in (3). We can also mention that sentences (5) and (6) start in the same emphatic manner, and although the sentence (7) begins in a different way, it is considered to have the same beginning in means of rhythm and stylistics. (1) "You needn't get any more wine," said Johnsy, keeping her eyes fixed out the window. (2) "There goes another. (3) No, I don't want any broth. (4) That leaves just four. (5) I want to see the last one fall before it gets dark. (6) Then I'll go, too."(7) "Johnsy, dear," said Sue, bending over her, "will you promise me to keep your eyes closed, and not look out the window until I am done working? (8) I must hand those drawings in by to-morrow. (9) I need the light, or I would draw the shade down."In the sentence (2) we can again observe there structure which has already been discussed above as well as inversion in direct speech as well as constructions with gerund, participles and infinitive. On the other hand, there is negative pronoun any in the sentence (3) which points out that onуpredicate want cannot be rheme by itself and there is apparent require of rheme being want broth. What also worth considering, is the sentence (5) with structure want + infinitive + something + a verb, but let us consider why see the last one fall is rheme in this case. That takes place due to use of lexemes the last one. Use of definite article is an important issue as it helps the author to stress rheme and theme, for instance, in the sentence (9) the light is rheme not because of its position in the sentence or clause, but due to use of article in front of it."Couldn't you draw in the other room?" asked Johnsy, coldly."I'd rather be here by you," said Sue. "Beside, I don't want you to keep looking at those silly ivy leaves."In the first sentence inversion coldly (rheme) is grammatically explained but is also more prominent owing to punctuation; the structure is explicated in order to show eccentricity of artistic people. (1) "Tell me as soon as you have finished," said Johnsy, closing her eyes, and lying white and still as fallen statue, "because I want to see the last one fall. (2) I'm tired of waiting. (3) I'm tired of thinking. (4) I want to turn loose my hold on everything, and go sailing down, down, just like one of those poor, tired leaves.""Try to sleep," said Sue. "I must call Behrman up to be my model for the old hermit miner. I'll not be gone a minute. Don't try to move 'til I come back."These paragraphs were united to be analyzed together as they are close in description of sequence of actions and stylistic characterization. As it can be exemplifiedby the sentences (1) and (3), both of them are metaphorical and emphatic (compare: white and still as fallen statue and just like one of those poor, tired leaves; both are rhemes and both are “indivisible”). From a pragmatic point of view, the tools are implemented in order to show the loss of connections between the real world and imaginary one, or between life and death. (1) Old Behrman was a painter who lived on the ground floor beneath them. (2) He was past sixty and had a Michael Angelo's Moses beard curling down from the head of a satyr along with the body of an imp. (4) Behrman was a failure in art. (5) Forty years he had wielded the brush without getting near enough to touch the hem of his Mistress's robe. (6) He had been always about to paint a masterpiece, but had never yet begun it. (7) For several years he had painted nothing except now and then a daub in the line of commerce or advertising. (8) He earned a little by serving as a model to those young artists in the colony who could not pay the price of a professional. (9) He drank gin to excess, and still talked of his coming masterpiece. (10) For the rest he was a fierce little old man, who scoffed terribly at softness in any one, and who regarded himself as especial mastiff-in-waiting to protect the two young artists in the studio above.In this example, it is interesting to trace the development of themes discursively. In the sentence (1) Old Behrman is rheme but later it transforms into theme as a reader gets more and more details about the character. However, in the sentence (4) rheme is a failure because of pragmatic target of the sentence which is to show that Behrman has failed in art with stress on fail but not sphere of performing. In the sentence (6) an unordinary word order is to be explicated as a tool for making it accentuated as rheme since in the first clause it (a masterpiece) is not rheme (in this case rheme is about due to logical supposition). (1) Sue found Behrman smelling strongly of juniper berries in his dimly lighted den below. (2) In one corner was a blank canvas on an easel that had been waiting there for twenty-five years to receive the first line of the masterpiece. (3) She told him of Johnsy's fancy, and how she feared she would, indeed, light and fragile as a leaf herself, float away, when her slight hold upon the world grew weaker.Old Behrman, with his red eyes plainly streaming, shouted his contempt and derision for such idiotic imaginings.There is more metaphorical meaning in the sentence (3), complicated with inconsistent attribute light and fragile as a leaf herself. However, this time it is theme because O. Henry relates to the already known theme, implementing intertextuality. It is logically and structurally possible by getting more connections with the help of rheme and theme. "Vass!" he cried. "Is dere people in de world mit der foolishness to die because leafs dey drop off from a confounded vine? I haf not heard of such a thing. No, I will not bose as a model for your fool hermit-dunderhead. Vy do you allow dot silly pusiness to come in der brain of her? Ach, dot poor leetle Miss Yohnsy."(1) "She is very ill and weak," said Sue, "and the fever has left her mind morbid and full of strange fancies. (2) Very well, Mr. Behrman, if you do not care to pose for me, you needn't. (3) But I think you are a horrid old - old flibbertigibbet."In the sentence (1), the first part of direct speech, one can find a perfect example of coincidence of theme and subject, and rheme and predicate, attribute or other parts of a sentence. Morover, the sentence (3) exemplifies that the last lexeme or lexical unit is considered to be rheme. Thus, Mr. Behrman is viewed by one of the main characters as old flibbertigibbet."You are just like a woman!" yelled Behrman. "Who said I will not bose? Go on. I come mit you. For half an hour I haf peen trying to say dot I am ready to bose. Gott! dis is not any blace in which one so goot as Miss Yohnsy shall lie sick. Some day I vill baint a masterpiece, and ve shall all go away. Gott! yes."In the firstsentence of the analyzing paragraph comparison is rheme, although it supplements the known topic; the main idea here is that the addition of information is considerable. Johnsy was sleeping when they went upstairs. Sue pulled the shade down to the window-sill, and motioned Behrman into the other room. In there they peered out the window fearfully at the ivy vine. Then they looked at each other for a moment without speaking. A persistent, cold rain was falling, mingled with snow. Behrman, in his old blue shirt, took his seat as the hermit miner on an upturned kettle for a rock.This paragraph demonstrates distribution of theme and rheme within a discourse which is represented by sentences describing sequences of actions with features of description. When Sue awoke from an hour's sleep the next morning she found Johnsy with dull, wide-open eyes staring at the drawn green shade."Pull it up; I want to see," she ordered, in a whisper.Wearily Sue obeyed.This abstract enables us to trace the way how theme and rheme are affected by structure of sentences in means of size and paragraphing. By now we can talk about O. Henry’s writing habits of using prepositional absolute construction in author’s words. On the one hand, he shortens sentences in order to introduce more rhemes. On the other hand, he reduces number of sentences to make every rheme and theme more emphatic. (1) But, lo! after the beating rain and fierce gusts of wind that had endured through the livelong night, there yet stood out against the brick wall one ivy leaf. (2) It was the last one on the vine. (3) Still dark green near its stem, with its serrated edges tinted with the yellow of dissolution and decay, it hung bravely from the branch some twenty feet above the ground.Actually, the sentence (1) is a good example of how a typical grammatical sentence can be reorganized in order with FSP. Rheme is one ivy leaf and it is can be easily recognized by its position in the end of the sentence. However, it is O. Henry who arranged the sentence; it starts neither with subject nor predicate (in that case inversion could have been considered); it the first part of the sentence shows possible hindrances for a leaf staying there, the second part includes there structure that makes the position of rheme possible. On the other hand, the sentence (3) exemplifies the way in which logical stress can help to extract rheme. The main stress emphasizes the most important ideas and facts in a sentence; therefore, in the analyzing sentence the most significant detail is not that the leaf was Still dark green near its stem, with its serrated edges tinted with the yellow of dissolution and decay or that he hung, but that it hung bravely. As we can remember from the previous paragraphs, the main character compared her with a leaf, and here follows more implicit intertextual meaning (if a leaf is brave and resists disease, Johnsy can also do it). (1) "It is the last one," said Johnsy. (2) "I thought it would surely fall during the night. (3) I heard the wind. (4) It will fall to-day, and I shall die at the same time."(5) "Dear, dear!" said Sue, leaning her worn face down to the pillow, (6) "think of me, if you won't think of yourself. (7) What would I do?"In the first sentence it is accentuatedthat there is only one leaf left (rheme); however, there is no grammatically obvious theme. As we know, one concerns the leaf (theme of the previous sentences) and cannot be analysed without last because it is significant here that the leaf is the last. The part (6), additionally, represents logical stress, where me and yourself are rhemes (which are opposed to each other).But Johnsy did not answer. The lonesomest thing in all the world is a soul when it is making ready to go on its mysterious, far journey. The fancy seemed to possess her more strongly as one by one the ties that bound her to friendship and to earth were loosed.Let us look into more examples of theme and rheme in the paragraph:1) Johnsy (theme) + answer (rheme);2) lonesomest thing (theme) + a soul (rheme), it (theme) + journey (rheme);3) fancy (theme) + more strongly (rheme), the ties (theme) + loosed (metaphorical rheme).The day wore away, and even through the twilight they could see the lone ivy leaf clinging to its stem against the wall. And then, with the coming of the night the north wind was again loosed, while the rain still beat against the windows and pattered down from the low Dutch eaves.(1) When it was light enough Johnsy, the merciless, commanded that the shade be raised.(2) The ivy leaf was still there.Johnsy lay for a long time looking at it. And then she called to Sue, who was stirring her chicken broth over the gas stove.In the examples (1) and (2) the same logical stress emphasizes that the last word in the phrase (or unit) is typically rheme as well (enough, there). In the second case, the main pragmatic function of there is not to make logical connections, as they are well known even from the previous sentences, but to state that that the leaf has not fallen. (1) "I've been a bad girl, Sudie," said Johnsy. (2) "Something has made that last leaf stay there to show me how wicked I was. (3) It is a sin to want to die. (4) You may bring me a little broth now, and some milk with a little port in it, and - no; bring me a hand-mirror first, and then pack some pillows about me, and I will sit up and watch you cook."It seems reasonable to distinguish rhemes and themes in this paragraph by comparing them:1) I (theme) + bad (rheme);2) something (theme) + made (rheme), last leaf (theme) + stay (rheme), I (theme) + wicked (rheme);3) sin (rheme) + it (theme);4) now (rheme), milk (rheme), hand-mirror (rheme), pack (rheme), sit up and watch (rheme).We have named only rhemes in the last sentence in order to create a more clear representation of pragmatic use of rheme in a sentence. In this case, rheme creates a flow of tokens which interact by changing each other.And hour later she said:"Sudie, some day I hope to paint the Bay of Naples."The doctor came in the afternoon, and Sue had an excuse to go into the hallway as he left.(1) "Even chances," said the doctor, taking Sue's thin, shaking hand in his. "With good nursing you'll win." And now I must see another case I have downstairs. Behrman, his name is - some kind of an artist, I believe. Pneumonia, too. He is an old, weak man, and the attack is acute. There is no hope for him; but he goes to the hospital to-day to be made more comfortable."As we can see from the example (1), word order does not always lead to define recognition of rheme and theme; in the given example, for instance, even is rheme and chances is theme (that can be also explained by their functions as a member of a sentence). The next day the doctor said to Sue: "(1) She's out of danger. You won. Nutrition and care now - that's all."(2) And that afternoon Sue came to the bed where Johnsy lay, contentedly knitting a very blue and very useless woollen shoulder scarf, and put one arm around her, pillows and all.It is interesting to analyze example one in the first paragraph as there is rheme (out of) which highly distinctive for the English language and its native speakers. Moreover, in the sentence (2) one can observe a row of homogeneous parts of the sentence that influences rheme and theme as it has been already mentioned before."I have something to tell you, white mouse," she said. "Mr. Behrman died of pneumonia to-day in the hospital. (1) He was ill only two days. The janitor found him the morning of the first day in his room downstairs helpless with pain. His shoes and clothing were wet through and icy cold. They couldn't imagine where he had been on such a dreadful night. And then they found a lantern, still lighted, and a ladder that had been dragged from its place, and some scattered brushes, and a palette with green and yellow colors mixed on it, and - look out the window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall. (2) Didn't you wonder why it never fluttered or moved when the wind blew? Ah, darling, it's Behrman's masterpiece - he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell."The use of particle only in the sentence (1) defines two days as rheme as well as such structures as Didn't you which stresses why (rheme) in the example (2).ConclusionTwo notions of Functional Sentence Perspective and Communicative Dynamism have not been fully manipulated in the analysis of English texts. While these notions were first suggested to analyse language at the sentential level, they were not fully adopted in the analysis of language stretches beyond the sentence due to the conviction that the order of words does not necessarily correspond to the order of ideas.The theme / rheme distinction can be manipulated in the analysis of texts and discourses as well as they are can be used to organise the information in the text. Thus, throughout communicative dynamism, the rheme in one sentence becomes the theme in a following sentence as it has been exemplified by “The Last leaf” O. Henry. The FSP can be employed to solve problems of structure and function. Since the theme/rheme relationship is not to be equated with the subject/predicate relationship, the utterance must be analyzed in terms of units other than those of syntax. Since the theme-rheme distinction has to do with the thematic organization of information in the semantic structure of sentence or text, it proves useful especially to solve problems of structure and function.These pairings listed by de Beaugrande can be adapted in a way and used as functional dimensions in the analysis of texts and discourses. Thus, a functional analysis in terms of time, position, context, novelty, expectation, determinacy, value, depth, register, markedness, emphasis, and discourse moves can be thoroughly applied to texts to approach texts from a functional perspective. As long as “The Last Leaf” is work of art in form of a story, its most prominent features are caused by genre and its main goal which is understood as to interact with a reader and affects his or her feelings and thoughts. Therefore, in such a type of discourse theme / rheme distinction helps to emphasise the most significant elements of narrative and portrayal.As practical analyses of “The Last Leaf” shows, in the English language two basic tools of deriving and defining theme/rheme relationships are distinguished. The first one is traditionally viewed as word order: due to the features of the language, connected with its rhythm and pronunciation, the last word of the phrase (not necessarily a sentence or a clause) is commonly thought to be rheme for the reason that it is stressed by intonation. The second tool is a role of a word in a sentence: subject is considered to be theme, whereas predicate, attribute and other members of a sentence – rheme. However, several cases are distinguish in order to state that the whole understanding of theme and rheme’s position in a sentence is questionable and cannot be analysed without a wider context. Thus, they are inversion, constructions with there/what, sentences starting with ‘It is … who/that/etc.’, structures have/ get something done, passive voice with by, ellipsis, do in its function of emphasizing, particles (only, almost, too) and articles (definite and indefinite). What is of no less importance is that every rheme and theme does not stand apart from the whole meaning focus and they are highly connected with previous and following sentences and context as a cluster of meaning. Finally, logical stress is viewed as additional tool; it can vary due to reader’s understanding of a story or a poem and adds additional issues of theme / rheme distinction.Bibliography1 Арнольд И.В. Стилистика современного английского языка. - Л.: Просвещение, 1981.2 Богуславский А.К. К вопросу о вторичном обозначении определенного содержания в русском связном тексте // Научные доклады высшей школы: филологические науки. - 1969. № 6.3 Гусева С.И. 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