Thematic structure is a concept in
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
.
When people talk, there are purposes in three separable parts of utterances, the act of speech, the
propositional content and the thematic structure. Because speaking is cooperative, in order that the speaking can be effective in the
conversation
Conversation is interactive communication between two or more people. The development of conversational skills and etiquette is an important part of socialization. The development of conversational skills in a new language is a frequent focus ...
, speakers have to pay attention to their listeners’ knowledge, state of mind and level of understanding. Speakers can assume that listeners know or do not know what speakers are talking about.
According to
Michael Halliday
Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday (often M. A. K. Halliday; 13 April 1925 – 15 April 2018) was a British linguist who developed the internationally influential systemic functional linguistics (SFL) model of language. His grammatical descrip ...
, the speakers’ judgements about the listeners’ current mental states are reflected in what is called the thematic structure used.
The thematic structure has three main functions:
*To convey given information and new information
*To subject and predicate
*To frame and insert
A thematic structure is a preoccupying conception of a proposition which runs throughout a media text, usually around an initiating topic. It strategically ties together a number of more specific conception or statements on the basis of particular social forms of knowledge and social forms of perception and belief. A thematic structure helps to make a media text coherent -- it orients a text around a central theme or a strand of related themes running through a story. (reference: David Deacon(2007), Researching communications, p. 174)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thematic Structure
Linguistics