2. Communicative &
informative
Communicative structure of the sentence refers to the way
the speaker structures the information, the way he identifies
the relative importance of utterance parts. Usually the
utterance consists of 2 parts:
the topic of discussion: something about which a statement is
made (theme = topic)
the new information, which adds most to the process of
communication (rheme = comment)
Some sentences contain only the rheme, they are
monorhematic: It is getting dark. In the majority of sentences
the constituents are either rhematic or thematic. There are
also transitional elements. Sentences containing the theme
and the rheme are called dirhematic.
Thematic elements are indicated by the definite article, loose
parenthesis, detached parts of the sentence; rhematic
elements - by the indefinite article, particles, negations,
emphatic constructions. But in the majority of sentences the
rheme is also placed at the end, which is achieved by changing
the syntactic structure of the sentence.
Means of preserving the progressive information structure:
1) passive transformations,
2) the use of conversives,
3) the use of the personal subject and the nominal predicate.
Means of making the subject rhematic:
1) the constructions there is/there are, it is necessary,
2) inversion.
Thematic elements contribute little to the meaning of the
utterance as they reflect what has already been
communicated: they have the lowest degree of
communicative dynamism (CD). Rhematic elements,
containing new information which advances the
communicative process have the highest degree of CD.
3. Functional Sentence Perspective
The Prague School of Linguistics –as a representative of a
functional approach to language devoted a considerable
attention to the theory of FSP. The founder of the so called
“being of immediate interest and concern” in Czech context is
Vilém Mathesius.
He introduced a twofold interpretation of sentences and
distinguished two content elements which every utterance
consists of:
• The element about which something is stated = the
basis(theme); “východisko/téma/základ”
• what is stated about the basis = the nucleus (rheme);
“jádro/réma”
The unmarked sequence of these two elements is Th–Rh=
objective order, the reverse sequence Rh–Th is called
subjective order, and is perceived as marked with
emotiveness.
Vilém
Mathesius
4. Communicative dynamism
J. Firbas continued in the tradition of Mathesius, but he introduced a new concept of as “the ground of FSP” –
Communicative dynamism (CD).
Every sentence contains an element toward which it is orientated (perspectived) and which contributes most to
the development of the communication and completes it. Such element carriers the highest degree of CD = the
most dynamic element.
Any linguistic element (a clause, a phrase, a word, a morpheme) can become a carrier of CD, as long as it conveys
information (meaning), and participates in the development of communication.
From this point of view, FSP is defined as the distribution of dynamic elements over a sentence. CD is in the
sentence realised in degree. As was said above, FSP and thus CD as well are phenomena of an act of
communication (parole), hence it is impossible to set its degrees objectively by a particular figure; it is not
measurable, its value is always given in relation to other elements involved.
The extent of contribution of the elements depends extensively on the character of information they convey,
whether it is retrievable or irretrievable from the immediately relevant preceding linguistic context.
5. Firbas sees the sentence as a field, on which the semantic relations and the syntactic structure are interlinked and
within which the degrees of CD are distributed. This underlines the functional approach: the sentence is induced to
function in a particular perspective, and serves as a distributional field (DF). The syntactic elements constitute
communicative units (CU).
One sentence can be interpreted not only on the level of the main distributional field, but also on the level of
distributional sub/fields (sub clauses, semi clauses, nominal phrases); each of them provide their own communicative
units.
6. Every language is accessible through FSP, because every language is here to fulfil the purpose
of communication.
FSP is a result of interplay of three factors which have to be taken into consideration while
analysing a written text. The means for expressing FSP may differ from language to language;
each language maybe dominated by a different factor. The three factors contributing to FSP are:
- contextual factor (expressed explicitly in the preceding discourse)
- semantic factor (the impact of the semantic character of a linguistic element)
- linear modification factor (the problem of relationship between word order and FSP)
On the level of spoken language another factor is added: intonation, taking into account the
prosodic prominence (weight) of individual elements.
7. Prosody, word order & grammatical
elements
In the study of prosodic aspects of speech, it is usual to distinguish between auditory measures (subjective impressions
produced in the mind of the listener) and objective measures.
There is no agreed number of prosodic variables. In auditory terms, the major variables are:
• the pitch of the voice (varying between low and high)
• length of sounds (varying between short and long)
• loudness, or prominence (varying between soft and loud)
• timbre or phonatory quality (quality of sound)
In acoustic terms, these correspond reasonably closely to:
• fundamental frequency (measured in hertz, or cycles per second)
• duration (measured in time units such as milliseconds or seconds)
• intensity, or sound pressure level (measured in decibels)
• spectral characteristics
In linguistics, prosody is concerned with elements of speech that are not individual phonetic segments (vowels and
consonants), but are properties of syllables and larger units of speech, including linguistic functions such as intonation,
stress, and rhythm. Such elements are known as suprasegmentals.
Prosody may reflect features of the speaker or the utterance: their emotional state; the form of utterance (statement,
question, or command); the presence of irony etc. It may reflect elements of language not encoded by grammar or choice
of vocabulary.
8. In linguistics, word order (also known as linear order) is the order of the syntactic
constituents of a language. Word order typology studies it from a cross-linguistic perspective,
and examines how different languages employ different orders. Correlations between orders
found in different syntactic sub-domains are also of interest. The primary word orders that
are of interest are:
• the constituent order of a clause, namely the relative order of subject, object, and verb;
• the order of modifiers (adjectives, numerals, demonstratives, possessives, and adjuncts) in a
noun phrase;
• the order of adverbials.
Some languages use relatively fixed word order, often relying on the order of constituents to
convey grammatical information. Other languages—often those that convey grammatical
information through inflection—allow more flexible word order, which can be used to encode
pragmatic information, such as topicalisation or focus. However, even languages with flexible
word order have a preferred or basic word order, with other word orders considered
"marked".
9. These are all possible word orders for the subject, object, and verb (the examples
use "she" as the subject, "loves" as the verb, and "him" as the object):
SOV is the order used by the largest number of distinct languages; languages using
it include Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Turkish. Some, like Persian, Latin and
Quechua, have SOV normal word order, but conform less to the general
tendencies of other such languages. A sentence glossing as "She him loves"
would be grammatically correct in these languages.
SVO languages include English, Spanish, Portuguese, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-
Croatian, the Chinese languages and Swahili, among others. "She loves him."
VSO languages include Classical Arabic, Biblical Hebrew, the Insular Celtic languages,
and Hawaiian. "Loves she him."
VOS languages include Fijian and Malagasy. "Loves him she."
OVS languages include Hixkaryana. "Him loves she."
OSV languages include Xavante and Warao. "Him she loves."
10. Linguistic Pragmatics
What is Pragmatics?
Pragmatics is a field of linguistics concerned with what a speaker implies and a listener
infers based on contributing factors like the situational context, the individuals’ mental
states, the preceding dialogue, and other elements.
In pragmatics, context is divided into four sub-parts: physical, epistemic, linguistic, and
social.
• Linguistic Context: refers to things that were said previous to the utterances under
consideration.
A Linguistic Context is a context defined purely in terms of what follows or what precedes a
particular segment that is undergoing a sound change. In other words, a linguistic context
will not take into account the social, situational aspects, or the psychological aspects.
A linguistic change ( for e.g. a sound change ) is explained solely in linguistic terms, without
explaining why a sound change is taking place, or what prompts the change. But such kind
of changes do take place, irrespective of the speaker’s social standing, or educational status,
or the psychological state of mind.
11. In linguistics, “linguistic context” is indeed the phonetic/graphic environment of the target
word (phoneme, sentence etc.) It is distinguished from “extralinguistic context”, which
includes such factors as the social situation, historical period, and world knowledge. The
distinction is not very clear (especially with regards to “dictionary” vs “encyclopedic”
semantics), but at least you can rely on linguistic factors being mostly in the same modality
(i.e. text/sound vs non-verbal information).
Context can be defined as the combination of linguistic and non-linguistic factors that
influence the meaning of words, phrases, sentences and/or paragraphs within a discourse.
There are three aspects to context: situational context, cultural context, and textual context.
Linguistic context is a subset of situational context.
Linguistic context is how meaning is understood without relying on intent and assumptions.
In applied pragmatics, for example, meaning is formed through sensory experiences, even
though sensory stimulus cannot be easily articulated in language or signs.
