Multiple Theme

So far, I have deliberately tried to keep to examples where it is reasonably easy to identify the boundary between the Theme and the Rheme. However, in looking at dependent clauses in the preceding section, I have passed over without comment the fact that conjunctions like ‘and’, ‘but’ and ‘as’ are included in Theme but do not fi ll the Theme position by themselves. These and certain other elements have a special status in the thematic structure of the clause.

6.6.1 Conjunctions in Theme

With conjunctions, this status is refl ected by the fact that, if present, they must come in fi rst position. Their function is to signal that the coming clause forms part of a larger structural unit, the clause complex, and also to signal how it relates to the other clause(s) in the complex. Therefore, they constitute a natural point of departure, helping the hearer to fi t this clause in its appropriate context. However, since they must come fi rst they do not ‘take up the full thematic potential of the clause’ (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014: 110): the speaker still has her main thematic options open – e.g. Figure 6.22 shows diff erent thematic choices following the conjunction ‘but’.

but all rooms but by the morning

But if she missed those in Hyde Park in 1838,

look out onto the secluded garden.

the snow had all melted.

she made up for it in the following year.

Theme Rheme

Figure 6.22 Conjunctions as part of Theme

What may be a little trickier to grasp is that there are two classes of Adjunct that also have special thematic status. It is to these that we now turn.

6.6.2 Conjunctive and modal Adjuncts in Theme

We have seen a number of examples where Adjunct has been chosen as Theme; but I have deliberately restricted these to circumstantial Adjuncts that contribute to the experiential meaning of the clause, as in the following example:

After about fi ve minutes she came out of the door.

There are, however, two other kinds of Adjuncts that serve a diff erent purpose, which contribute a diff erent kind of meaning to the message.

Conjunctive Adjuncts, such as ‘however’, ‘alternatively’ and ‘as a result’, signal how the clause as a whole fi ts in with the preceding text (see 8.3). They are obviously similar to conjunctions in the kinds of semantic relationships that they signal, but, unlike conjunctions, they do not link the clause into a larger structural unit (in over-simple terms, they show how two sentences relate to each other, whereas conjunctions join two clauses into one sentence).

Modal Adjuncts, such as ‘probably’, ‘surprisingly’ and ‘frankly’, convey speakers’

judgements of the relevance or truth value of their message (see 4.3.7). They may be seen as a comment on the ‘content’ of the message rather than part of the content itself (just as conjunctive adjuncts may be seen as linking the content of the clause to that of other clauses without forming part of the content). Thus they orient the hearer to the message by signalling a standpoint from which to view the information in the clause.

Figure 6.23 gives examples of a range of these two kinds of Adjuncts in Theme (the Adjuncts are in italics). The fi rst four examples show conjunctive adjuncts, while the last three show modal adjuncts. (For a detailed list of Adjuncts that fall into these two categories, see Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014: Section 3.4.)

Thus disorder Nevertheless, we

However, when ice crystals form, Then we

Certainly his wife June Admittedly, he Please may I

will tend to increase with time.

can refl ect on our own activities.

they will have defi nite positions.

haven’t met before, have we?

was a very odd woman.

took the trouble to destroy all the papers in the cottage.

leave the table?

Theme Rheme

Figure 6.23 Conjunctive and modal Adjuncts in Theme

From the account of their functions above, it should be clear that both conjunctive and modal Adjuncts are natural starting points, just as conjunctions are. However, unlike conjunctions, they do not have to be thematic: the speaker can choose whether or not to put them in Theme. They frequently occur in second position in the clause, at the Theme–Rheme boundary immediately after the Subject or whatever other constituent has been chosen as Theme; and they may appear even later in the Rheme – see Figure 6.24.

The little station, In North America, Then

It

however, had not changed at all.

for example, there is a grade system for measuring reading.

they would certainly have to send you home.

doesn’t last, naturally.

Theme Rheme

Figure 6.24 Conjunctive and modal Adjuncts in Rheme

The fact that there is a choice involved in placing these Adjuncts in Theme raises the question of why we then need to include other elements in Theme. To answer this, we need to broaden the scope of the discussion a little and to establish a more specifi c defi nition of Theme.

6.6.3 Textual, interpersonal and experiential elements in Theme

We have already established that the clause expresses experiential, textual and interpersonal meanings. Lexical elements, such as conjunctive and modal Adjuncts, that express primarily textual and interpersonal meanings have the function of

‘placing’ the content, of signalling how it fi ts coherently with the content around it.

They therefore naturally tend to gravitate towards the beginning of the clause, which is the structural slot (the Theme) where ‘fi tting-in work’ is done.

However, the textual and interpersonal elements signal how the fi tting-in is going to work; they do not signal what is going to be fi tted in. In order to see what is going to be fi tted in, what the actual starting point is, we need to have an element from the experiential content of the clause. This is not an easy concept to grasp, and I fi nd that sometimes it is useful to think simply in terms of getting your hearer settled in before launching into what you want to tell them. Older British readers may still have imprinted on their memories the words with which ‘Listen with Mother’, a radio programme for children, always started the stories that were told: ‘Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin. Once upon a time ...’ On a small scale, Themes with more than one element can be seen as performing the same function.

This means that Theme must always include a constituent that plays a role in transitivity: a participant, process or circumstance. Halliday and Matthiessen label the thematic experiential constituent the ‘topical Theme’, arguing that it corresponds closely to what is called ‘topic’ in topic–comment analysis. However, ‘topic’ is a notoriously shifty concept, and, like many people working in the Hallidayan

approach, I prefer to avoid it in this context; so I will simply keep to the label

‘experiential Theme’.

If anything precedes the experiential element in Theme – textual and/or interpersonal elements – it is also part of Theme. This is then called a ‘multiple Theme’. There is a restricted range of elements that may precede experiential Theme in multiple Themes. As textual elements, we have already mentioned conjunctions and conjunctive Adjuncts; and to these we can add ‘continuatives’: a small set of what are sometimes called discourse markers (‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘well’, ‘oh’,

‘now’, etc.) that signal the beginning of a new move in the exchange. If more than one textual element is present, they normally occur in the order: continuative, conjunction, conjunctive (‘Well, but on the other hand ...’). As interpersonal elements we have mentioned modal Adjuncts; to these we can add Vocatives (e.g.

names or other forms of direct address such as ‘darling’).

Examples of multiple Themes, showing various combinations of elements preceding the experiential element, are given in Figure 6.25.

Well,

As Figure 6.25 suggests, the typical ordering of elements in multiple Theme is textual^interpersonal^experiential. But when a conjunctive and modal Adjunct appear together in Theme, the modal Adjunct normally precedes the conjunctive one; and the order of elements is interpersonal^textual^experiential; see Figure 6.26.

Unfortunately,

Figure 6.26 Alternative ordering of elements in multiple Themes

6.6.4 Interrogatives as multiple Themes

In section 6.3.2 above, I mentioned that the unmarked Theme of yes/no interrogatives included the Subject as well as the initial verbal operator. With the concept of multiple Theme established, we can now come back to the question of why Subject needs to be included. As discussed earlier (see 4.3.6), it is the Predicator, not the Finite, that expresses the process in transitivity. Thus, in line with the rule that the Theme of a clause goes up to and includes the fi rst experiential constituent, it becomes clear that we must include Subject. Yes/no interrogatives are in fact simply a kind of multiple Theme, with the Finite as an interpersonal element. Similarly, imperative clauses in which the negative or emphatic operator (‘don’t’ or ‘do’) is present have a multiple Theme with the operator constituting an interpersonal thematic element – see Figure 6.27.

Well, had

Mrs Lovatt, would Do

Please don’t

she you have make

missed her Mum?

say it is untrue?

one of these eclairs.

me out as some kind of hysterical idiot.

textual interpersonal experiential

Theme Rheme

Figure 6.27 Yes/no interrogatives and imperatives as multiple Themes

This does not apply to WH-interrogatives, since, although they have an interpersonal function in signalling interrogativeness, the WH-element always plays a role in the transitivity of the clause – it stands in for a participant or circumstance – and therefore it expresses both an interpersonal and an experiential meaning at the same time.

• Refer to Exercise 6.4.