Analysis on Thematic Structure and Thematic Progression in Obama’s weekly radio speech

李成燁

【Abstract】Thematic structure and thematic progression are important concept of textual function. Based on the example of Obamas weekly radio speech， we can examine the practicality of thematic structure and thematic progression and give a guidance for preparation of political speeches.

【Key words】Thematic Structure； Thematic Progression； weekly radio speech

I. Introduction

Barack Obama is known for his excellent skills of delivering speeches. And his weekly radio speeches express his viewpoints about latest political policies. This paper is going to discover the organization of speech and find out how thematic structure and thematic progression work together through a text .

II. Thematic Structure

The concept of thematic structure is firstly put forward by Mathesius， then it was accepted and further developed by Halliday， the representative of Systematic and Functional Linguistics. Halliday thinks Theme is more than a topic， because Theme consists of components of topic and other components located at the first position of sentence. And Halliday divides Theme into two parts in terms of its status： marked Theme and unmarked Theme. Unmarked Theme refers to the conflation of the Theme and the Subject， otherwise the marked Theme.

After the introduction of thematic structure in China made by the scholar Xu Shenghuan， many scholars have put forward different opinions ，for example， Huang Guowen，etc. They accepts the concept and further put forward their own different ideas.

III. Thematic Progression

The concept of thematic progression is introduced on the basis of thematic structure. Originally， thematic progression is put forward by the scholar of Czech， Danes. It refers to the constant connection and changes among Themes and Rhemes. Through these varieties of clauses and sentences， texts can be further improved and enhanced step by step. Danes puts forward four patterns of thematic progression： constant Theme pattern， simple linear pattern， derived Theme pattern and split Theme pattern.

Constant Theme pattern： the Themes of each clause are the same while the Rhemes of each clause are different.Simple linear pattern： the Rheme of first clause is the Theme of next clause.Derived Theme pattern：the Theme of first clause is split into several elements， each of which is used as Themes of subsequent clauses. Split Theme pattern：the Rheme of first clause is split into several elements， each of which functions as Themes of subsequent clauses. The concept of thematic progression is brought about by the scholar， Xu Shenghuan. He also puts forward four thematic progression patterns， they are parallel model， continuous model， concentrated model and alternative model.

IV. Conclusion

From discussions mentioned， we have an idea that thematic structure and thematic progression are helpful for text analysis. Based on analysis of Obamas weekly radio speech， we have a detailed framework of speech based on thematic structure and thematic progression.

References：

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