Language Means of Realizing the Communicative Task of the Sentence
Word Order The problem of word order has already been discussed.
Articles. Intensifying Words
The indefinite article, by its very semantics, is predisposed to function in the rheme, the definite - in the theme, e.g.:
It was a little bird. And the bird was whistling overhead (D.H. Lawrence).
However, the criterion of articles is no more universal than the criterion of word order. In the first place, the indefinite article is not always rhematic and the definite article is not always thematic. Cf:
A barking dog does not bite (Proverb), where the indefinite article occurs in the theme; or: No - the men are odious, but the women — the women (W.M. Thackeray), where the definite article occurs both in the theme and in the rheme.
In the second place, articles help us define the communicative value of only one part of speech - the noun.
In the third place, there are languages (for example, Russian) that have no articles., but that do realize the communicative task.
An intensifying word is a sure sign of the rheme, e.g.:
Truly, truly, John, you 're quite right (J. McKimmey).
I do understand (I). Steel).
The occurrence of intensifying words, however, is optional, not obligatory.
Special Constructions
To rhematize the subject grammatically fixed in the thematic initial position, English resorts to three constructions.
1. Construction with the introductory 'there', e.g.:
There was a blackboard in the classroom (V. Evans).
By putting the formal subject there before the predicate, one generates a grammatical sentence. By introducing a notional subject
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and removing it closer to the rhematic final position, one gets an opportunity to increase the communicative value of the subject without violating grammar rules.
2. Construction with the introductory it. It serves to emphasize
the communicative value of most sentence members, including the
subject. But it occurs inside polypredicative sentences. Cf.:
It was he who brought her into trouble (J. Galsworthy).
3. Passive construction, e.g.:
The door was opened by a Chinese girl... (W.S. Maugham).
The final position of the fey-object in the passive construction is certainly more emphatic than the initial position of the subject in the active construction. Cf:
A Chinese girl opened the door.
Thematization of the subject is, strictly speaking, redundant in English because, as has already been mentioned5 English, due to grammatically fixed word order, has a tendency to put the subject in the thematic initial position. But whenever special emphasis on the thematic subject is necessary, one can resort to the following constructions.
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I- >Mn and J, we go to that school since we are seven (I. Murdoch).
As for the students, they won't be invited (S.C. Dik).
2. Next morning, Christmas Day, came fine and clear (A. Cronin).
In the first case, emphasis on the subject is achieved through its repetition in the form of a pronoun. N.A. Slusareva refers such sentences to constructions with a double theme. They are typical of colloquial English.
The introduction of an appositive in the second case does not only repeat the preceding subject but also imparts a rhematic shade of meaning. The possibility of the transformation into an independent sentence with the appositive Christmas Day functioning as a predicative proves it quite unequivocally:
Next morning was Christmas Day.
That's why N.A. Slusareva suggests that, as opposed to 'double theme' in the first case, it should be called 'complicated theme'. Complicated themes constitute a characteristic feature of written English.
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Since all the above-mentioned language means of theme-rheme differentiation are optional, L.S. Barkhudarov draws the conclusion that the theme-rheme organization of the sentence should be studied in linguistic stylistics, not in grammar.
Nuclear Stress. Context
The latter is debatable, for it is proved experimentally that theme-rheme differentiation has at least one constant means of its expression - the so-called logical stress. Since the epithet 'logical' conjures up undesirable associations with the erroneous logical interpretation of the sentence and bearing in mind that the so-called logical stress marks off the rheme (or the communicative nucleus), we prefer the term 'nuclear stress', found in the papers of G. Leech, J. Svartvik and some other linguists, because, in our view, it better reveals the linguistic and, first of all, the communicative essence of the phenomenon under examination.
One might object saying that the criterion of nuclear stress is not binding either, for nuclear stress is to be found only in oral speech, and linguists generally deal with written texts. On the face of it, it is really so. But if one goes deeper into it, he will see that nuclear stress is present in written texts as well, only implicitly, not explicitly. The reconstruction of the nuclear stress in written texts is achieved with the help of the context and different graphic means -commas, dashes, italics, etc.
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Linguists usually mention the thematizing role of the context. Really, the repetition of a notion decreases its communicative value, shifting it into the sphere of thematic elements, e.g.:
One night there flew over the city a little Swallow. His friends had gone away to Egypt six weeks before but he had stayed behind, for he was in love with the most beautiful Reed He had met her early in the spring as he was flying down the river after a big yellow moth, and had been so attracted by her slender waist that he had stopped to talk to her (O. Wilde).
In this passage, the notion of swallow, introduced in the first sentence, in the course of the narration forms a starting point for 5 utterances.
In the opinion of G.A. Zolotova, however, the context also helps determine the rheme. Thus, in texts describing a person or
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scene, there prevail qualitative characteristics, hence, the rheme is usually constituted by words possessing the generalized meaning of property, i.e. adjectives, adverbs, and adjectival nouns, e.g.:
She was a tallish woman, taller than Kitty, neither stout nor thin, with a good deal of pale brown hair; she could never have been pretty with anything but the prettiness of youth: her features were good enough without being remarkable and her blue eyes were cold. She had a skin that you would never look at twice and no colour in her cheeks. And she dressed like - well, like what she was, the wife of the Assistant Colonial Secretary at Hong Kong. Of course, no one could deny that Dorothy Townsend had a pleasant voice. She was a wonderful mother, Charlie always said that of her, and she was what Kitty's mother called a gentlewoman (W.S. Maugham).
In texts describing the actions of a person, there prevail action characteristics; hence, the rheme is usually constituted by words possessing the generalized meaning of action, i.e. verbs, e.g.:
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The nurse opened the door and motioned with her finger for me to come. I followed her into the room. Catherine did not look up when I came in. I went over to the side of the bed. The doctor was standing by the bed on the opposite side. Catherine looked at me and smiled. I bent down over the bed and started to cry (E. Hemingway).
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