The English Enhanced Theme Construction And Its Discourse Functions

The syntactic construction analysis takes on a multi-perspective analysis modewith the development of modern linguistics. The two major branches of modernlinguistics, the Systemic Functional Grammar and the Cognitive Linguistics areconsidered as complementary despite their minor theoretical differences. TheFunctional Linguistics attaches importance to social aspects of language. Namely, itanalyzes language from the perspective of social function and situation in whichlanguage is used. According to Halliday’s Systematic Functional Grammar, languageis endowed with three metafunctions, namely ideational, textual and interpersonalfunctions. The Systematic Functional Grammar is composed of Sydney Grammar,Cardiff Grammar, Nottingham Grammar and Mattiessen Grammar. As Robin Fawcettsays, the relationship between the Cardiff Grammar and the Systematic FunctionalGrammar is like dialect and language. That is to say, the Cardiff Grammar is a furtherdevelopment of the Systematic Functional Grammar. On the issue of theme and rhemeanalysis, Cardiff Grammar inherits the basic concepts and classification of it.Furthermore, Cardiff Grammar develops the issue of theme and rheme by bringing upthe enhanced theme construction. The enhanced theme construction refers to the valueof theme has been highlighted by its initial thematic build-up. With the developmentof natural science, people further recognize the language structure reflects conceptstructure based on human’s cognition. Namely, the cognitive linguistics attachesgreater importance to mind.Based on the Cardiff Grammar, the thesis explores the English enhanced themeconstruction from the functional linguistics and disputes about Halliday’s definitionon theme are under discussion. The thesis argues that formalized theme constructioncan’t fully account for the discourse cohesion. What’s more, we should analyze thetheme from the cognitive perspective to achieve full understanding of discoursecohesion. The paper contributes to the understanding of the English enhanced themeconstruction.