Topic-Comment Relation as a Means of Textual Organization

Mechanisms of topic-comment relations, or actual division of the sentence, attracted scientists of previous centuries. However, the general idea was that of connection between the theme and the rheme. Subject and predicate connection is an independent unit of grammatical and logical unity. In sponta...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: N. Yu. Saltanova
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Kemerovo State University 2022-05-01
Series:Вестник Кемеровского государственного университета
Subjects:
Online Access:https://vestnik.kemsu.ru/jour/article/view/5202
_version_ 1797781355206017024
author N. Yu. Saltanova
author_facet N. Yu. Saltanova
author_sort N. Yu. Saltanova
collection DOAJ
description Mechanisms of topic-comment relations, or actual division of the sentence, attracted scientists of previous centuries. However, the general idea was that of connection between the theme and the rheme. Subject and predicate connection is an independent unit of grammatical and logical unity. In spontaneous speech, such units are seldom coherent. The coherence is a result of the speaker’s purpose that turns a flow of sentences into a super-phrasal unity with a common theme and syntactic coherence. The connection of the theme and the rheme makes a foundation for the hyper-theme and the hyperrheme of the narrative. The research featured the ways of transmitting the new and the known to the recipient. It also included coherence achieved by inversion, when the rheme can be interpreted as the theme as a result of inverted word order. A comparative analysis of parts within the super-phrasal unity revealed an important semantic-syntactic entity called "abstract" as a minimal element of text division. The predicative-relative complex that unites a few super-phrasal unities accompanies abstract division. Therefore, actual division is much broader than a mere connection of themes and rhemes but remains a part of communicative value in spite of the tendency to identify them as equivalents. A thorough analysis of coherence of linguistic units made it possible to describe the level of their informative value, as well as to single out the semantic components that render the idea to the greatest extent. In an ambiguous situation, it enables to choose the right variant thanks to extra-linguistic connections. Thus, the text is a unit marked by the coherence of semantic and syntactic relations. The text is a realization of the author’s viewpoint developed thanks to a unique concept that constitutes the super-rheme, while the general theme is given in the form of the author’s subjective appeal to the reader.
first_indexed 2024-03-12T23:56:14Z
format Article
id doaj.art-94d22f13c34642be841a5842fe582305
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2078-8975
2078-8983
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-12T23:56:14Z
publishDate 2022-05-01
publisher Kemerovo State University
record_format Article
series Вестник Кемеровского государственного университета
spelling doaj.art-94d22f13c34642be841a5842fe5823052023-07-13T12:08:37ZengKemerovo State UniversityВестник Кемеровского государственного университета2078-89752078-89832022-05-0124223123810.21603/2078-8975-2022-24-2-231-2384454Topic-Comment Relation as a Means of Textual OrganizationN. Yu. Saltanova0Moscow City UniversityMechanisms of topic-comment relations, or actual division of the sentence, attracted scientists of previous centuries. However, the general idea was that of connection between the theme and the rheme. Subject and predicate connection is an independent unit of grammatical and logical unity. In spontaneous speech, such units are seldom coherent. The coherence is a result of the speaker’s purpose that turns a flow of sentences into a super-phrasal unity with a common theme and syntactic coherence. The connection of the theme and the rheme makes a foundation for the hyper-theme and the hyperrheme of the narrative. The research featured the ways of transmitting the new and the known to the recipient. It also included coherence achieved by inversion, when the rheme can be interpreted as the theme as a result of inverted word order. A comparative analysis of parts within the super-phrasal unity revealed an important semantic-syntactic entity called "abstract" as a minimal element of text division. The predicative-relative complex that unites a few super-phrasal unities accompanies abstract division. Therefore, actual division is much broader than a mere connection of themes and rhemes but remains a part of communicative value in spite of the tendency to identify them as equivalents. A thorough analysis of coherence of linguistic units made it possible to describe the level of their informative value, as well as to single out the semantic components that render the idea to the greatest extent. In an ambiguous situation, it enables to choose the right variant thanks to extra-linguistic connections. Thus, the text is a unit marked by the coherence of semantic and syntactic relations. The text is a realization of the author’s viewpoint developed thanks to a unique concept that constitutes the super-rheme, while the general theme is given in the form of the author’s subjective appeal to the reader.https://vestnik.kemsu.ru/jour/article/view/5202actual division of a sentencecohesiontheme of a sentencerheme of a sentenceword ordermonorhemedirhemehyper-themehyper-rhemesuper-rhemestatementsuper-phrasal unityabstracttextcommunicative integrityauthor’s conceptioncorecommunicative situation
spellingShingle N. Yu. Saltanova
Topic-Comment Relation as a Means of Textual Organization
Вестник Кемеровского государственного университета
actual division of a sentence
cohesion
theme of a sentence
rheme of a sentence
word order
monorheme
dirheme
hyper-theme
hyper-rheme
super-rheme
statement
super-phrasal unity
abstract
text
communicative integrity
author’s conception
core
communicative situation
title Topic-Comment Relation as a Means of Textual Organization
title_full Topic-Comment Relation as a Means of Textual Organization
title_fullStr Topic-Comment Relation as a Means of Textual Organization
title_full_unstemmed Topic-Comment Relation as a Means of Textual Organization
title_short Topic-Comment Relation as a Means of Textual Organization
title_sort topic comment relation as a means of textual organization
topic actual division of a sentence
cohesion
theme of a sentence
rheme of a sentence
word order
monorheme
dirheme
hyper-theme
hyper-rheme
super-rheme
statement
super-phrasal unity
abstract
text
communicative integrity
author’s conception
core
communicative situation
url https://vestnik.kemsu.ru/jour/article/view/5202
work_keys_str_mv AT nyusaltanova topiccommentrelationasameansoftextualorganization