The Analysis of the Story of My Life fromthe Perspective of the Textual Function

【Abstract】This paper analyzes some chapters of The Story of My Life from the point of view of the textual metafunction， namely， it analyzes how the message is organized in a context. This paper selects some contexts of the book to elaborate the textual function. It may be feasible to analyze from the aspect of theme and rheme since in certain situation the construction of the context reflects the intention of the authors and at the same time it can make a certain effect on readers or receivers.

【Key words】textual function； theme； rheme； cohesion；context

1. Identifying Theme

1.1 Theme in declarative clauses

In this kind of cases， the Theme of the sentence is the Subject. We can see some examples in the ChapterⅥ：

1.2 Theme in non-declarative clauses

Usually， we ask a question for some ‘missing information and what the questioner wants to know is at the starting point in a sentence. So the WH-word or group usually appears in Theme position. As the examples in Fig.2 show， the missing information can be any part of the sentence： Adjunct or Subject.

2.1 Thematic equatives

The English thematic equative is a special thematic structure， which is termed as “pseudocleft” in formal linguistics. The starting point in a thematic equative is often a question that the speaker images the hearer might want to ask at this stage in the text. Particular in speech， the thematic equative seems to serve more as a way of ‘staging the message： splitting it into two chunks that the hearer will find easier to process. In the following case， more than one element of the message are grouped into a single clause constituent that function as a Theme.

What many children think of with dread， as a painful plodding through grammar， hard sums and harder definitions， is to-day one of my most precious memories.

In some cases， speakers may pick out a single element and endow it with emphatic thematic status. This kind of structure is called ‘predicated Theme by Halliday and Matthiessen. （2005：95）

It was the Iliad that made Greece my paradise.

It was in the spring of 1980 that I learned to speak.

It was decided that I should go to Cambridge.

In some contexts， conjunctions like ‘and， ‘but and ‘as are included in Theme， however， they do not act as the Theme only by themselves. This kind of element has a particular status in the thematic structure.

3.1 Conjunctions in Theme

Generally， conjunctions come in first position in a clause， and they act as a natural point of departure to help the hearer or receiver to fit this clause in its appropriate context. They do not ‘take up the full thematic potential of the clause（Halliday and Matthiessen，2004：83）， their function is to guide the subordinate clause.

3.2 Conjunctive and modal Adjuncts in Theme

Conjunctive Adjuncts do not link the clause into a larger structural unit ， they signal how the clause as a whole fits in with the preceding text. （Geoff Thompson，2008 ）

Modal Adjuncts convey the speakers judgement of the relevance or truth value of their message. They may be comment on the ‘content of the message rather than as part of the content itself. （Geoff Thompson，2008 ） Modal Adjuncts， such as， ‘certainly， ‘perhaps， ‘surely， ‘definitely， ‘hardly， ‘scarcely， ‘possibly， are related to the speakers judgement.

Perhaps an explanation of the method that was in use when I took my examinations will not be amiss here.

Thus I came up out of Egypt and stood before Sinai.

Theme Rheme

3.3 Textual， interpersonal and experiential elements in Theme

Multiple Theme is a combination of elements preceding the experiential element. In the following example， as for textual Theme， ‘then do not link two clauses into one sentence， so it is not conjunction； it shows how two sentences related to each other， so it is conjunctive Adjunct in the Theme since it shows the sequence of two incidents. As for interpersonal Theme， ‘perhaps is modal Adjunct. As for the experiential Theme， ‘my own thoughts and experiences is the ‘topical Theme which labeled by Halliday and Matthiessen.

As we can see， by analyzing the multiple Theme， we can have a better understanding of the cohesion in the context.

Conclusion

In systemic functional grammar， textual function is one of the three metafunctions of Halliday. We usually analyze a context by theme/rheme as well as the cohesion from the perspective of textual function. Theme serves as the starting point in a context and it presents the readers or the receivers what the clause or clause structure is about. And rheme is the message which follows the theme in a context， that is， what is going to talk about. Analyzing the sentences with theme/rheme， we can learn why the author organize the sentence in this way， namely， the intention of the author. And then， it can help us learn the implied meaning in the context.

References：

[1]Halliday M A K.An Introduction to Functional Grammar[M].Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2000.

[2]Helen Keller，The Story of My Life[M].Beijing：Central Compilation & Translation Press，2011.

[3]Geoff Thompson，Introducing Functional Grammar[M].Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2008.

作者簡介：卢静，（1992.9.5-），女，汉族，河南信阳人，贵州师范大学外国语学院2014级外国语言学及应用语言学硕士研究生，研究方向为语音学与音系学。