“Theme”及“ Rheme”的應用

國立成功大學外文系高實玫

skao@mail.ncku.edu.tw

I. “Theme”/”Rheme” 的定義

• In English, the element placed in the front of a clause is a signal of what is to be understood as the “framework” or “point of departure” (Halliday, 1985) .

• The rest of the clause is what the writer wants to discuss within this framework.

• Thus, which order a writer chooses to arrange the words in a sentence depends on the co-text—the sentences before and after that particular one.

I. “Theme”/”Rheme” 的定義

• Theme= “ the left-most constituent”

• Rheme= the rest of the sentence

• Theme =/= Subject

I. “Theme”/”Rheme” 的定義

1a. Mr. Yang retired last month.

1b. He often feels bored.

1c. He watches TVBS News hourly.

2a. A: Does Mr. Yang watch ET News?

2b. B: No! It’s TVBS News, he watches.

3a. Mr. Yang retired last month.

3b. He often feels bored.

?3c. It’s TVBS News, he watches.

I. “Theme”/”Rheme” 的定義

Theme Rheme What does the reader decode? Given NewMr. Yang →retired last month. Mr. Yang is not working.

↓He → often feels bored. He has nothing to do. ↓He → watches TVBS news hourly. He kills his time by

watching the news.

BUT *It’s TVBS News, he watches. The reader/listener cannot decode the relation between thi

s sentence and the first two.

II. “Theme”/”Rheme” 的結構

4a. Last week, we had a very nice school trip.4b. We first visited the zoo.4c. There, we saw a lot of animals.4d. The animals were very cute.4e. After the zoo, we went to the National Science

and Technology Museum.4f. In the Museum, we saw many interesting things.

Theme RhemeLast week, we had a very nice school trip.

We first visited the zoo. There, we saw a lot of animals.

The animals were very cute. After the zoo, we went to the National Science and Technolog

y Museum.

In the Museum, we watched a 3-D movie about earthquakes.

II. “Theme”/”Rheme” 的結構

We see two options from the above analysis:

Option A: Theme1 →Rheme1

↓

Theme1 →Rheme2

↓

Theme1 →Rheme3

II. “Theme”/”Rheme” 的結構

Option B:

Theme1→Rheme1

↓

Theme2 →Rheme2

↓

Theme3 →Rheme3

II. “Theme”/”Rheme” 的結構

Option C: A combination of Option A & B.

Theme1 →Rheme1

Theme 2 →Rheme2

Theme 3 →Rheme3

Theme 4 →Rheme4

III. 將“ Theme”/”Rheme” 的結構分析應用到作文教學

5a. My mother was born in Taichung on May 5, 1957.5b. At that time, her father was serving in the army in Kinm

en.5c. What is worse, her grandfather died after a month she

was born.5d. Life became difficult then.5e. My mother was the first child in her family, 5f. because she had four sisters but no brothers.

III. 將“ Theme”/”Rheme” 的結構分析應用到作文教學

Sentence

Structure

Theme Rheme

SVO 10a. My mother

T1

was born in Taichung on May 5, 1957.

ASVO 10b. At that time,

T2

her father was serving in the army in

Kinmen.

Wh- + be +

adjective +

{C [possessive

pronoun+S]V

+[adverbial+(S+be

+adverbial)]}

10c. What

T3

is worse, her grandfather died after a month

she was born.

SVO 10d. Life

T4

became difficult then.

SVO 10e. My mother

T1a

was the first child in her family, because

SVO 10f. she

T1b

had four sisters but no brothers.

III. 將“ Theme”/”Rheme” 的結構分析應用到作文教學

1. Move the information about her birth order in 5e and 5f to the second sentence.

2. Add ‘the only son of her grandparents’ after her father in 5c.

3. Add ‘since there were no men at home’ to 5d.

III. 將“ Theme”/”Rheme” 的結構分析應用到作文教學

6a. My mother was born in Taichung on May 5, 1957.6b. She was the first child in her family and later she got four younger sisters.6c. At that time, her father, the only son of her grand parents, was serving in the army in Kinmen.6d. What is worse, her grandfather died after a month she was born.6e. Without any male members at home, life became difficult for my mother then.

III. 將“ Theme”/”Rheme” 的結構分析應用到作文教學

Theme RheyemMy mother was born in Taichung on May 5, 1957. She was the first child in her family and

she got four younger sisters later in her family.

At that time, her father, the only son of her grand parents, was serving in the army in Kinmen.

What is worse, her grandfather died after a month she was born.

Having no malemembers at home, life became difficult for my mother then.

III. 將“ Theme”/”Rheme” 的結構分析應用到中文自然語料

• 生活經驗敘述

7. 我暑假去安親班 /安親班老師帶我們去九族文化村 /我玩了海盜船跟太空山 /還有熱氣球 /那個轉圈圈 /還有旋轉木馬 /還有坐那個像雲霄飛車的那個衝下來 /好了

III. 將“ Theme”/”Rheme” 的結構分析應用到中文自然語料

Option A

Theme Rheme我 暑假去安親班

安親班老師 帶我們去九族文化村

我 玩了海盜船跟太空山 還有熱氣球 那個轉圈圈 還有旋轉木馬

還有坐那個像雲霄飛車的那個衝下來好了

III. 將“ Theme”/”Rheme” 的結構應用到中文自然語料分析

生活經驗敘述

8. 有一天（ 2.1 ）爸爸媽媽帶我出去玩 .是去台北玩（ 2.4 ）那一天是星期天 ..還有星期六 ..還有星期五 ..我們都出去玩（ 10.4 ）好拉（ 7.0 ）出去玩（ 2.3 ）那是爸爸的公司 .請 .請的 .坐遊覽車去的 ..坐得很久（ 2.6 ）然後 .我的頭暈暈的就想要吐結果沒有吐（ 6.5 ）然後（ 4.2 ）遊覽車的司機帶我們 .去吃飯 ..然後（ 4.3 ）遊覽車的 .司機 .告訴我們說 ..我們的房間 ..回去要拿鑰匙（ 4.6 ）拿鑰匙（ 2.4 ）可是 .爸爸 ..是拿跟我們不一樣的鑰匙（ 2.5 ）他拿不一樣的鑰匙要還回去跟我們住一同間 ..我們是住旅社 ..然後住一天就回家了 ..好了。

Theme Rheme有一天 爸爸媽媽帶我出去玩

是去台北玩那一天 是星期天

還有星期六還有星期五

我們 都出去玩好拉

出去玩那 (出去玩 ) 是爸爸的公司 .請 .請的坐遊覽車 去的坐得 很久然後 .我的頭 暈暈的就想要吐結果 (我 ) 沒有吐然後 遊覽車的司機 帶我們 .去吃飯然後 遊覽車的 .司機 . 告訴我們說我們的房間 .. 回去要拿鑰匙拿鑰匙可是 .爸爸 .. 是拿跟我們不一樣的鑰匙他 拿不一樣的鑰匙要還回去(他 ) 跟我們住一同間我們 是住旅社然後住一天 就回家了 ..好了。

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9. 有一天 .哥哥 .脫衣服進去.浴缸裡面洗澡.好了沒阿.還玩鴨.小鴨在水裡面.哥哥在玩小鴨在水裡面.小鴨阿小鴨在裡面阿.然後 .毛巾掛在.掛在架（ㄐㄧㄤ4）子 .（師︰子）架子.衣架也掛在上面.然後椅子.椅子上面有放著.放著刷子.放著刷子.椅子上面放著刷子然後放著沐浴（一4）乳然後旁邊有洗手台講完了。10.左邊有一個洗手台然後然後中間有一個沐浴乳和刷子還有一個椅子然後右邊有一個小男孩在洗澡還有一個鴨還有一個鴨子還有還有還有左邊還有一個一個衣架然後毛巾然後衣架然後還有一個衣衣架

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