An Analysis Of Theme And Thematic Progression In Political Speeches

Theme and Thematic Progression are important devices in text analysis. Each clause of text in any language can be identified as Theme and Rheme. Themes and Rhemes in sentences will produce certain relation and variation, which is called Thematic Progression, through which coherence of texts can be realized. Abundant and profound studies have been conducted on Thematic Progression both at home and abroad, concerning journalistic texts, advertising texts and academic papers, etc.. However, the analysis texts from the perspective of theme theory and thematic progression is a largely neglected of political area.As a distinctive type of text, Political speeches require well-knit structures and evocative language to effectively express the speakers'viewpoints and appeal the audiences. Therefore, the analysis of thematic structure and progression of original speeches can not only facilitate effective textual organizing for the speaker to achieve communication but also help the audience understand the speakers'thoughts and intentions.Based on the framework of M.A.K Halliday's thematic theory and Danes's Thematic Progression (TP for short) patterns as well as other linguists'contributions to this field, the author selects 10 samples of President Obama's speeches as materials and adopts quantitative and qualitative research methods to analyze the Themes and Thematic Progression patterns in Obama's political speeches, aiming to find out the characteristics of political speeches. The major findings are as follows: Political speeches tend to adopt the simple Theme so as to make the listeners understand easily. The first pronoun I and its plural form we have a high frequency in the political speeches in terms of attracting the audience's attention and shortening the distance between the speaker and the audience. Through the analysis of thematic progression, it is found that the political speeches also tend to employ Constant Theme pattern and Linear pattern. It is easy for the speaker to develop the topic and for the audience to be accepted.This study will enrich the application of Theme and Thematic Progression on text analysis in theory as well as help readers or learners understand and appreciate political speeches. Moreover, this study may shed some lights on English reading and writing in practice.