The communicative aspect of the text and its actual division

THE COMMUNICATIVE ASPECT OF THE   SENTENCE AND ITS ACTUAL DIVISION

1. Classification of sentences according to the purpose of communication.

2. The problem of exclamatory sentences.

3. The actual division of the sentence. The central notions of the actual division: the theme and the rheme. Dirhemic and monorhemic utterances.

4. Means of expressing the components of actual division.

5.  The peculiarities of actual division in different communicative types of sentences. The text forming function of actual division.

      1. From the point of view of its role in discourse the sentence is defined as a minimum unit of communication. Every sentence is uttered with a certain communicative aim: either to share information with the listener, or to ask for information, or to induce the listener to some action.

     According to their communicative aim sentences are divided into three types: declarative, interrogative and imperative. As a rule one communicative type differs from another not only in the purpose of communication, but also in structure, intonation and the listener's response.

      Let us have a closer look at each communicative type. The declarative sentence expresses a statement, either affirmative or negative. Declarative sentences are characterized by a direct word order, a falling tone and are correlated with the listener's responding signal of attention, which may express agreement, disagreement, sympathy, approval, appraisal etc., for example:

1)  "You look well, Dad." "Middling" (J.Galsworthy.)

2)  "Why, this is porridge, cold porridge." "Real Scotch porridge. You should  appreciate it, with your Scotch name " ( G. Greene).

3)   "She has left me. "- " My dear boy, my little boy " (J. Galsworthy).

     The  interrogative  sentence presents  a request  for information

wanted by the speaker from the listener. It also differs structurally from the declarative sentence by an inverted word order. The usual response to an interrogative sentence is an answer which, together with the question, forms a question-answer dialogue unity, e.g. "Are there any letters for me? " "Three."

     In the process of communication the interrogative communicative purpose, like any other, is not always fulfilled, in such cases the response to a question may be silence, a verbal refusal to give an answer or another question, e.g.:

1) "Then why did Ted Driffield marry her?" "Ask me another" (S.

Maugham).

2)  "How are you, Mr Bosinney?" He turned his back and walked away (J.Galsworthy)

3) "What do you think of my new star?" "Who gave it to you?" (J. Galsworthy).

     Traditionally interrogative sentences are subdivided into several subclasses: general, special, alternative and so called disjunctive (or tag) questions. This classification, however, is more structural than communicative in its essence; it reflects the difference in the structure of the questions rather than the difference in the communicative intention of the speaker. The analysis of the interrogative sentences in me communicative aspect allows us to make just a few additions to the traditional classification. Thus, a closer look at the general and alternative questions shows that they do not differ much in their communicative aim. The communicative aim of both the questions is to get information about the whole event whereas in special questions the speaker needs information about the details, or particulars, thus asking ^lwho', 'where', 'what', 'why' _etc. When asking about the event (whether it really did, does or will take place) we always have an alternative in our minds, i.e. we expect a 'yes' or a 'no' answer. This alternative is implied, but is not presented explicitly in the structure of the general question. In the alternative question as the name suggests the alternative is expressed explicitly and this seems to be the only difference between general and alternative questions. Taking this into consideration we may regard general questions as compressed variants of alternative questions with the alternative implied (not presented in the structure of the question), and alternative questions, in their turn, may be regarded as extended variants of general questions with the alternative expressed explicitly in the structure of the question.

      As for the so called disjunctive questions the term 'disjunctive' reveals the structure of the question rather than its aim in communication. The analysis of question-answer unities with this type of questions shows that their communicative function is not a request for information as in general questions but rather confirmation of the information that the speaker already has and just wants the listener to confirm, e.g. He arrived last night, didn't he? So the best term for these question from the point of view of their role in the process of communication is confirmative questions. These questions have a high frequency in English and carry out several pragmatic functions. They are often used as a means of subjective modality intended to make the utterance less assertive (This isn 't the best of your answers, is it?). They also carry out a contact-forming function as they involve the listener in the conversation (Fine day, isn't it?). They may be used as an effective means of making the speaker share your opinion or carry out the promise ("Уои'I/ never go back, will you"? - "No." "You promise?" ~ "/promise" (G. Greene).

      The imperative sentence expresses inducement, either affirmative or negative (prohibition) and its communicative function is to induce the listener to perform (or not to perform) an action. Structurally imperative sentences are usually subjectless and the verb is used in the form of the Imperative mood. They are correlated with the listener's verbal or nonverbal response showing whether the inducement is carried out or rejected. E.g.:

1) "Let's go and see how the money's gone ".

"Very well", assentedBosinney. (J. Galsworthy) 2) "Come, come back, Irene!" The footsteps died away (J. Galsworthy).

      2. In some grammar books, mostly in practical grammar manuals the authors point out one more communicative type - exclamatory sentences. However, a closer look at exclamatory sentences shows that they can hardly be placed on the same level with the three basic communicative types because they differ in their communicative status. The function of the declarative sentence is to give information, the function of interrogative sentences is to ask for information, the function of imperative sentences is to induce the speaker to an action whereas the function of exclamatory sentences is just to express the speaker's emotions. The emotive charge expressed by exclamatory sentences presents an additional feature that may accompany the basic communicative types. So each communicative type of the sentence may be exclamatory and non-exclamatory.

Non-exclamatory:                                  Exclamatory:

It was a silly mistake.                             What a silly mistake it was!

Why did you keep it back from me?         Why on earth did you keep it back from me?!

Try to speak sensibly.                              Do try to speak sensibly!

     Consequently, exclamatory sentences cannot be regarded as a fourth communicative type because their function is different - they are used to express the emotional state of the speaker.

      3. In the process of communication one and the same sentence may be used for making different utterances. Thus the sentence William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon may produce three utterances. If it is used as an answer to the question "Where was William Shakespeare born?" it is pronounced with the logical stress on the adverbial modifier and the other parts of the sentence may be deleted. If it is used as an answer to the question "Did William Shakespeare live all his life in London?" it is pronounced with the logical stress on the predicate, or the particle only is introduced before the predicate. And finally, if it is used as an answer to the question "Who was born in Stratford-upon-Avon? " it has the logical stress on the subject, and the other parts of the sentence may be deleted.    These utterances, though identical in their syntactic and semantic structures and their communicative functions (all of them are declarative), carry out different functions in the process of communication. They differ in their informative value. This aspect in the sentence analysis is known as the actual division, or the functional perspective of the sentence. The study of this aspect of the sentence is historically connected with the traditional logical analysis of the sentence. H.Paul and F.  F.  Fortunatov opposed the psychological subject and predicate to their syntactic counterparts; A.I.Smimitsky    differentiated between lexical and grammatical subjects and predicates. A consistent and thorough study of this phenomenon was carried out by the Czech scholar V.Mathesius who is considered the    founder of the theory of actual division.    A great contribution to this theory was made by the Czech scholars   J.   Firbas,   B.Trnka   and   the   Russian   linguists   O.Lapteva, N.Slyusareva, M. Blokh and some others. Analyzed in the aspect of its actual division most of the utterances may be divided into two parts that have been given different names: the topic and the comment, the starting point and the nucleus, the given and the new and, finally, the theme and the rheme, which are most widely accepted. The theme is defined as the part of the utterance that contains given, familiar information which serves as the starting point of the utterance. It denotes an object or a phenomenon about which something is stated. The rheme is accordingly defined as the part of the utterance that presents new information   for   the sake of which the utterance is made; it is the focus of the utterance, its communicative centre. The information contained in the rheme may not be objective, but it is the most important for the speaker.   E.g. "If you want a divorce, it's not very wise to go on seeing her. " "I havent made up my mind yet. " "She has" (J. Galsworthy).

      How can we identify the rheme? As Professor T.P.Lomtev pointed out, the rheme is the part of the utterance which presupposes a question or negation. This may serve as a formal test for identifying the rheme. More formal test for identifying the rheme was suggested by M.Y.Blokh.  It is the so called logical super-position.  It consists in the transforming the utterance in such a way as to place the rheme in the position of the logically emphasized predicative, e.g. It was Shakespeare who was born in Stratford-upon-Avon. The theme is the part of the utterance that may be deleted or substituted by pronouns.

      It must be taken into consideration that in most cases the transition from the theme to the rheme is not abrupt, but gradual and the parts of the sentence that forms the transitional zone and possesses different degree of informative value. E.g.:

The man listened to the conversation with a hardly visible smile. the theme proper —    transitional zone —    the rheme proper

The majority of utterances contain both the components of actual division and such utterances are called dirhemic. But there are also utterances that contain only the rheme and they are called monorhemic, e.g. Don't do it. It's late.

      5. The system of any language possesses various means of expressing the components of actual division. They are numerous and may be expressed by units of different lingual levels: phonological, morphological, syntactic, and lexical. These means are generally used not isolated but in combination with one another. The most universal means is the logical stress with the help of which the speaker accentuates the focus of information. It should be treated as the primary means if only because the primaries form of the language existence is its oral form. With the help of logical stress the speaker may accentuate any part of the utterance, born the notional and functional words, e.g. But accidents, he said, will happen. In written speech logical stress is often represented by italics. Among the morphological means the most important role in actual division belongs to the articles. The definite article is usually identified with the theme and the indefinite - with the rheme. The change of the article serves as the signal of the change in actual division, e.g. He bought a new house The house is small but comfortable. The use of the Passive voice is also often caused by the need to make the doer of the action very prominent, e.g. The conference was attended by the President and his wife.

Syntax also plays an important role in the actual division of the sentence. The components of actual division are first of all accentuated by the word order. It has long been noticed that the word order generally corresponds to the order of our thoughts. When we are calm, not agitated, our thoughts proceed from the familiar to the new. When we are emotional or agitated this usual order may be broken. This finds its reflection in two types of word order: objective and subjective. In the former the theme precedes the rheme, and in the latter   the rheme comes first.   Thus the emphatic inversion serves to accentuate the rheme of the sentence. E.g.: On this subject Norah  could utter only blasphemies. And utter them she did (I.Murdoch) Besides   inversion   there   are   also   special   syntactic structures in English that serve the needs of actual division. The rheme is introduced by the emphatic construction It- be - Rheme - who/that, e.g. It's the silences that hurt (R. Kipling) ; by the construction There is/are... e.g.   There was no doubt a rational explanation for the sudden return of his rational faculties (E. Segal). The theme is introduced by the structures 'as for, as to', e.g. As for the debt, just forget about it.

Among other syntactic means of expressing the rheme we find repetition, e.g. You and only you can make me happy, ellipsis, when the thematic part is deleted thus making the rheme or the peak of the rheme very prominent, e.g. What is it you want? - The truth; panellation which often introduces a secondary rheme, e.g. "Sam, could I have a word with you? Privately. Outside " (F. Forsyte).

Among the lexical means an important role in the promotion of the rheme belongs to emphatic particles which do not have a fixed position in the sentence and are usually placed before the rheme. E.g. Only he came yesterday. He came only yesterday.

      6. Each communicative type of the sentence is characterized by its own peculiarities in the expression of actual division. The majority of declarative sentences and general questions are dirhemic and the rheme is identified with the help of the tests mentioned above. In special questions the position of the rheme is open and they present a request for information about the rheme. Imperative sentences are mostly monorhemic.

      If a sentence is analyzed in isolation from the context it is rather difficult to identify the components of actual division. Let us analyze the tallowing example. "I am Dr Manson." If we look at the sentence taken elatedly from the context, we will most probably think that the rheme is Dr Manson and will accentuate it by logical stress. «I am Dr Manson» In the context from which the sentence is taken, the rheme of the sentence is the link verb to be and the sentence reads "As a matter of fact I am Dr Manson'. Thus we may conclude that the actual division of the sentence is always context-bound and can be best studied in the frame of the sypersyntax. It carries out a very important text-forming function. The text as a unit of sypersyntax is characterized by communicative integrity which is created by the components of actual division. The theme promotes the communicative cohesion of the text whereas the rheme introducing new information promotes its communicative progression.