The aim of the thesis "Syntactic Means of Rhematisation in Contemporary French in Comparison to Czech" is to describe syntactic means of rhematisation in French and denote its parallel in Czech language. First part of the thesis deals with the theoretical resources concerning Functional sentence perspective mainly in Czech-written literature by the most important authors (F. Daneš, J. Firbas, P. Sgall and others) and it also describes French conceptions by B. Combettes and M. Rothenberg concerning thematisation and rhematisation in French. The second part, which is practical, shows the concrete use of means described. The phrases are quoted from the literary texts contained in language corpus InterCorp.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T18:23:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcelo Saparas.pdf: 680825 bytes, checksum: 7a65aba86161bc4131bd921e10505fbd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-05-15 / This research examines the structure of the nominal group (NG) found within the Rheme in distinguished discourse genres, namely academic writing, movie review and opinion article. The NG has not been the object of many studies, and besides, it has been studied within isolated sentences and, in general, in sentences inauthentically constructed. However, there is no consensus, among researchers, neither on the function, nor on the order of its constituents. There are many factors that influence the constitution of the structure of the NG, among which the influence on the type of genre, according to Bathia´s and Whitaker´s researches in 1991 and 1995, respectively. I attempt, in this research, to: (a) examine authentic texts and not just isolated sentences, as it has been done, since the literature shows us that the structure of the NG involves textual concepts as those of Theme and Rheme, which, by extension, as we will see, are overlaid with informational issues of Given and New. I attempt, therefore, to relate the NG with the communicative dynamism to examine to what extent the constitution of the structure of the NG reflect off this dynamism. This way will lead us to consider the question of ensuring effective communication flow , through the notion of communicative dynamism, that increases, in most cases, from the Theme to the Rheme, according to Firbas (1974). Nevertheless, despite the fact that this research examines the Rheme, one has to take the Theme into account, seeing that; according to Halliday, quoted by Fries (2002), Rheme is all in the clause but the Theme . Here we run into a problem: it is known that the definition of Theme has aroused polemics. I must clarify that this research is conducted on the study of the NG within the Rheme, since this position is generally taken by the information newness, fact which marks it by a higher degree of communicative dynamism, and also because, although it occupies a crucial role in the discourse, little has been researched about it. This being the case, the objective of this research is to examine, in authentic texts, in three different discourse genres, the constitution of the NG in the Rheme, to find out how this structure is characterized in order to fulfill its function within the Rheme, in other words, the function of increasing the communicative dynamism. Thus, it is basically supported by the Systemic Functional Linguistics and by the Functional Sentence Perspective. Numerical data, in terms of clauses and adjuncts, will show the lexico-grammatical elements that constitute the NGs of the Rheme. Therefore, the data seem to indicate that the communicative dynamism makes use of attributes and the simple constitution of the greater part of the NGs in this process. A noteworthy fact is the widespread occurrence of definite articles in places that serve to convey new information, the Rheme. There are rare occurrences of noun clauses and adjectives in pre-head positions within the NG. The role of the circumstances is also important in this context, for it seems to contribute to explain the way the event occur, in space and time determined by it. There are occurrences of comparisons with the preposition como ( like ), to explain through comparisons the content that is hardest to learn / Este trabalho examina a estrutura do grupo nominal (GN) que ocorre no Rema em gêneros discursivos distintos, a saber: escrita acadêmica, crítica de cinema e artigo de opinião. O GN não tem sido alvo de muitos estudos, e além disso, tem sido estudado em sentenças isoladas e, em geral, em sentenças artificialmente construídas. Por outro lado, não há consenso entre os pesquisadores sobre a função, nem sobre a ordem de seus constituintes. Há muitos fatores que influem na constituição da estrutura do GN, dentre os quais a influência do tipo de gênero, conforme pesquisa de Bathia (1991) e Whittaker (1995). Tento nesta pesquisa: (a) examinar textos naturais e não apenas sentenças isoladas, como tem sido feito, já que a literatura nos mostra que a estrutura do GN envolve conceitos textuais como os de Tema e Rema, os quais, por extensão, como veremos, se sobrepõem a questões informacionais de Dado e Novo. Tento, portanto, relacionar o GN com a dinâmica da comunicação para verificar em que medida a constituição da estrutura do GN reflete dessa dinâmica. Esse caminho nos levará a considerar a questão de levar a comunicação para frente , através da noção de dinamismo comunicativo, que aumenta, na maioria dos casos, do Tema para o Rema, segundo Firbas (1974). Por outro lado, embora a pesquisa examine o Rema, não se pode deixar de considerar o Tema, já que, segundo Halliday, citado por Fries (2002), Rema é tudo na oração menos o Tema . Aqui enfrentamos um problema, pois a definição de Tema tem levantado muita polêmica, como se sabe. Devo esclarecer que esta pesquisa se concentra no exame do GN do Rema, já que esta posição é em geral ocupada pela novidade da informação, o que a reveste de maior grau de dinamismo comunicativo, e também porque, embora exerça esse papel primordial no discurso, pouco se tem pesquisado a seu respeito. Assim sendo, o objetivo desta pesquisa é examinar, em textos naturais, em três diferentes gêneros discursivos, a constituição estrutural do GN do Rema, para verificar como se caracteriza essa estrutura para cumprir sua função no Rema, ou seja, de aumentar o dinamismo comunicativo. Para tanto, apóia-se, basicamente, na Lingüística Sistêmico-Funcional e na Perspectiva Funcional da Sentença. Dados numéricos, em termos de oração e adjuntos, mostrarão os elementos léxico-gramaticais que constituem os GNs do Rema. Portanto, os dados parecem indicar que o dinamismo comunicativo, vale-se de orações subordinadas e dos atributivos (oração adjetiva, adjunto adnominal e predicativo) nesse processo, bem como da constituição simples da maior parte dos GNs. Excetuando-se a escrita acadêmica, os dois outros gêneros (artigo de opinião e crítica de cinema) apresentam GNs constituídos de dêitico + núcleo + atributo, o que me surpreendeu dado que era de se esperar que a escrita nos gêneros examinados apresentasse GNs complexos. Fato notável é a ocorrência maciça de artigos definidos em ambiente que serve para veicular informação nova, o Rema. Há ocorrência mínima de orações substantivas, bem como de adjetivos em posição pré-núcleo do GN. O papel das circunstâncias é também importante nesse contexto, pois parece concorrer para explicar o modo como os eventos se realizam, num tempo e num espaço também determinados por elas. Há ocorrência de comparações, com a ocorrência da preposição como , para explicar através de comparações o conteúdo mais difícil de apreender

句子的主題具備了串連訊息、引導文句發展的重要功能，然而資料顯示許多外語學習者常因為使用不適當的主題而影響語句的連貫性以及文章的流暢度。本研究透過觀察台灣高中生記敘文的主題類型，分析其在高、中、低分群學生文章中的使用情形來了解主題的選用對文章連貫性以及整體作文品質的影響。 本研究分成初步試驗以及正式研究兩階段，在初步試驗階段我們建立了分析的架構。在正式研究階段，我們採集111位高三學生於課堂上完成的記敘文並交由兩位經過訓練的閱卷老師進行評分，最後結果產生高、中、低分三組學生作文，接著再從每一組的文章中各抽樣10份進行主題類型之分析研究。 分析結果顯示，三組學生作文的主題類型及出現頻率大致雷同，整體而言，學生最喜好使用非標記的名詞主題，卻最少使用標記的分詞+名詞主題。然而進一步分析三組的主題發展情形，卻發現有顯著的組別差異，以高分群為例，其主題多具備銜接上文或有利推進文意的背景資料文字，相較之下，中等或低分群的作文比較容易出現和上下文不相關或中斷文意發展的新主題。 根據本研究的發現，我們建議在英語作文課中介紹句子主題的概念，幫助學生熟悉其類型和功能，期使學生能在記敘文文章中正確使用主題來達到語句連貫，文意流暢的溝通目標。 / Theme plays a significant role in guiding the information flow in text. Nonetheless, there is evidence indicating that many EFL learners often fail to make good choices of theme to secure sentential relationship or writing coherence. Through the observation on the occurrences and distribution of theme types in three levels of student compositions: the high, the middle and the low-rated narratives, the present study aims to investigate the establishment of theme in Taiwanese senior high school students’ narratives in order to gain understanding of theme’s effect on writing coherence and writing quality. The entire study consists of a pilot study and a formal one. The pilot study helps establish the criteria for the main study. In the main study, 111 student compositions were gathered and two raters were recruited and trained for the rating. Based on the rating system, the student compositions are divided into 3 levels. 10 samples from each level were randomly selected for thematic analysis. The result shows that the occurrences and distribution of theme types in the three levels of writing are alike. In general, unmarked NP theme is the most favored by all the students and marked theme Non-fi C + NP is the least desirable. Nonetheless, in terms of the establishment of theme, there are major differences between groups. In particular, the high-rated essays tend to establish a theme that is connected to the theme or the rheme in the preceding discourse or provides background information for the development of the event. In contrast, the mid-or low-rated essays are more likely to establish a theme that is unrelated or disruptive to the progression of the current discourse. Based on the findings of the present study, it is suggested that the notion of theme including its features and functions be incorporated into the teaching of English compositions to help Taiwanese senior high school students identify the characteristics of coherent writing and facilitate coherence in their English narratives.

[pt] O objetivo deste trabalho é identificar processos verbais nominalizados e analisar suas funções na produção textual de alunos do Ensino Médio, considerando-se o uso de nominalizações do ponto de vista da oração como mensagem, que se organiza em torno do sistema de Tema e Rema. A pesquisa baseia-se na teoria sistêmico-funcional (Halliday, 1994, Halliday e Matthiessen, 2004) para o estudo da metáfora gramatical através da identificação de formas metafóricas que apresentam variação léxico-gramatical na expressão de um dado significado e são consideradas como mais elaboradas do que as formas congruentes. Essas transformações na estrutura lingüística têm início a partir da adolescência e variam em função de contextos que demandam novos usos da língua. Para analisar o uso de formas nominalizadas na escrita escolar, cinquenta textos dissertativo-argumentativos em língua portuguesa, produzidos por alunos da terceira série do Ensino Médio, foram coletados em uma escola pública e uma particular. Além disso, os participantes da pesquisa responderam a um questionário socioeducacional cujos resultados foram quantificados visando a evidenciar fatores individuais e/ou sociais que pudessem estar relacionados à sua produção textual. A análise qualitativa identificou o uso de nominalizações (Basilio, 2003) com diferentes funções discursivas. Em relação à estrutura temática, observou-se que as nominalizações estabelecem relações lógicas e favorecem o fluxo das informações no texto. A comparação entre textos evidenciou uma variação no uso da linguagem metafórica nos diferentes contextos educacionais. A partir desses resultados, propõe-se a conscientização de alunos e professores quanto aos efeitos textuais e discursivos que certos mecanismos linguísticos podem criar, visando evitar a produção de textos pouco proficientes para a finalidade a que se propõem. / [en] The aim of this study is to identify nominalized verbal processes and analyze their functions in the written production of secondary school students. These nominalizations are examined in clauses viewed as messages, which are organized according to the Theme and Rheme system. The research is based on systemic-functional theory (Halliday, 1994, Halliday e Matthiessen, 2004) for the study of grammatical metaphor through the identification of metaphorical constructions which present lexico-grammatical variation in the expression of meaning, being therefore considered as more complex than congruent forms. These transformations within linguistic structures start to appear in early adolescence, varying according to new contexts that require specific uses of the language. In order to study the use of nominalized forms in school writing, fifty argumentative essays in Portuguese were collected among 12th grade students from public and private secondary schools. Research participants also answered a socioeducational questionnaire that generated quantitative data so that social and/or individual features could be associated with students textual production. Qualitative analysis led into the identification of nominalizations (Basilio, 2003) with different discursive functions. Concerning the thematic structure, it was observed that nominalizations establish logical relations and help develop the flow of information in texts. A comparison between texts pointed out variation in metaphorical language use in different school contexts. These results indicate that it is important to make students and teachers aware of the textual and discursive effects that some linguistic mechanisms can produce, and based on this knowledge possibly avoid the production of texts that are not adequate to their intended purpose.

In my Ph.D. thesis, I examine the use of referential devices in spoken narrative discourse with predominant anaphoric reference. Special attention is paid to the relationship between two competing forms: lexical phrases containing the lexeme ten (ten-MARKED NPs) and lexical phrases not containing it (UNMARKED NPs) in repeated mentions. A primary aim of the work is (i) to identify factors favouring the use of ten-marked NPs at the expense of unmarked NPs and (ii) to explore the possibility of the lexeme ten grammaticalizing from its anaphoric use. Theoretically and methodologically I benefit mostly from the conception of discourse anaphora and the theory of grammaticalization. The referential devices are systematically explored in terms of their distribution into different classes according to a set of parameters and their values. These parameters reflect the conceptual (animacy), grammatical (syntactic function, type of clause etc.) as well as discourse characteristics of the forms and their referents (informational status of the NP in the clause, activation and persistence of the referent, etc.). The data consist of 45 short narratives produced by 15 speakers. The speakers' task was to retell three short silent-movie sketches which they had seen immediately before the recording. The design of the...