| Based on British linguist Halliday's thematic theory and Czech linguist Danes' theory on patterns of thematic progression, the comparison between commercial law English and common English on the aspects of types of theme, distribution of different themes, constituents as themes and patterns of thematic progression is made aiming to give prominence to the thematic characteristics of commercial law English. And finally the significance of thematisation of title in commercial law English is illustrated.In this thesis, both quantitative and qualitative studies are adopted with the aim to achieve the more reasonable and persuasive conclusion. Eight extracts including 2035 clauses from "Uniform Commercial Code" (UCC) and 8 chapters including 2165 clauses from the novel "The Red Badge of Courage" are respectively selected as sample English texts. Through careful analysis, it is concluded that: in commercial law English, the multiple themes cover more, in particular, textual themes play an important role in textual organization;the clauses in hypotaxic relation, especially, in conditional relation have higher frequency;Noun or noun phrases instead of pronouns are usually adopted;there are altogether 11 patterns of thematic progression, among them, four typical types hold the dominant position;and the thematization of title is put forward as a particular feature of commercial law English.In the end, the conclusion obtained in this thesis is suggested to realize application on two aspects: on the one hand, the practical assistance in legal English teaching for English teachers;on the other hand, the working guidance for those who not only specialize in English, but also engage in foreign legal service and international business trade. |
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