The aim of the present thesis is to analyze the Norwegian existential construction (presenteringskonstruksjonen) with regard to syntax, static semantics, dynamic semantics, and functional sentence perspective (FSP). The thesis first introduces the firbasian FSP theory in general, demonstrating the concepts on Norwegian examples. Then the theories most relevant for the study of the existential construction are summarized. The analysis is carried out on a sample of 1000 instances (500 taken from fiction and 500 excerpted from academic prose), and focuses mainly on the notional subject, the verb, and a possible adverbial. The syntactic analysis includes the position and the structure of the notional subject and adverbials. In addition, the lexical semantics of the head words and static semantics of adverbials were observed. The FSP analysis focused on the FSP functions of the individual clause elements and the FSP patterns the existential construction may realize. In addition, the dynamic semantic roles were studied in relation to the static semantic roles. The aim of the analyses is to find out in what circumstances the existential construction may realize the presentation scale or the quality scale, and what functions the construction may perform. The thesis observes the application of FSP on real...

This diploma thesis analyses instances of the initial position of the information focus, the rheme, in present-day English. Initial placement of the rheme is found in structures that go against the principle of end-focus. The aim of this work is to identify which clause constituents, and under what circumstances may function as the initial rheme. The initial section of the theoretical part deals with a description of word-order, and the basic concepts of functional sentence perspective, such as communicative dynamism. Then it continues with the rheme and the factors affecting FSP, and, particularly, with cases where initial rheme occurs. The practical part contains analysis of examples of initial rheme in different genres and text types, including oral communication. The frequency of occurrence is summarized at the end of the work.

本研究探討溝通動態與手勢之關係。本研究相較於過去的研究提供了中文口語語料的量化結果，除了檢視語言上的溝通動態值與手勢出現、手勢類型的關係以外，並加入手勢特徵進而檢視。語言上的溝通動態值分別以「資訊狀態」與「主題連續性」來決定溝通動態值之高低，並且將手勢所伴隨的語詞依詞性分開分為名詞與動詞，檢視是否手勢上會依循語碼原則（the coding principle）：當溝通動態值越高，所使用的代碼材料便越多；當溝通動態值越低，所使用的代碼材料越少。結果發現，以決定溝通動態值的標準來看，資訊狀態較主題連續性更能依語碼原則反應溝通動態值。原因是因為資訊狀態反應訊息的新舊差異性，而主題連續性反應的是舊訊息當中的不同的「舊」的程度差異，因此前者較能反應溝通動態與手勢之關係；而以手勢伴隨的語詞而言，動詞較名詞更能依語碼原則反應溝通動態值。因為動詞相較於名詞而言，在語言上無完整的語碼系統以反應溝通動態值之高低，因此倚賴手勢出現與手勢特徵來反應語言上的溝通動態值之高低。 / The study investigates the correlation between communicative dynamism (CD) and gesture. Different from the previous studies, the present study provides quantitative analysis based on Chinese conversational data. The study examines the correlation between CD in language and the occurence of gestures, gestural types and gestural features. The various degrees of CD are deteremined by two separate criteria, namely “information status” and “topic continuity”. Morover, the study also distinguishes between the nominal affiliates of gesture and the verbal counterparts. The study found that gestures occur at the two extremities of CD. Gestures tend to co-occur with linguistic elements bearing the highest or the lowest CD. In addition, based on the criterion of “information status”, stroke duration and handedness were found to reflect the various degrees of CD. On the other hand, based on the criterion of “topic continuity”, all gestural features including stroke duration, gestural space, handedness and stroke frequency have no correlation with CD.

This diploma thesis examines translation counterparts of the English verbs be and have and the Czech verbs být and mít. It focuses on instances with a divergent translation counterpart, i.e. instances in which be corresponds to mít and have corresponds to být in the English-Czech direction, and instances of být being reflected as have and mít as be in the Czech - English direction. The aim of the paper is to determine to what extent divergent verb counterparts are used in the translation, whether the target language has available alternatives with a verb counterpart identical with the original, and what are the motivating factors that influence the choice of a divergent verb counterpart. Another objective is to examine the changes in the syntactic and semantic structure connected with the use of a divergent verb counterpart, and to assess their impact on the functional sentence perspective. The research used material from the parallel Intercorp. A total of 164 examples with a divergent verb counterpart was excerpted and the research was divided into four parts, according to the source language and the verb. The use of divergent verb counterparts was explained mostly by a lexical gap in the target language, or by semantic and stylistic factors and to a smaller extent also by the influence of the...

The diploma thesis is focused on an analysis of the first sentences of newspaper articles namely from an aspect of the topic-focus articulation, which is expressed in Czech primarily by word order. The word order depending on the increasing communicative dynamism of words in the sentence might be changed from an objective word order if new information follows known or before mentioned information into subjective word order resulting in a reverse order. E.g.: The CEZ group showed record profit of 52 milliard CZK last year, a reverse word order: (literal translation) Record profit (Obj) of 52 milliard CZK the CEZ group(Subj) showed last year. In our thesis, we describe the above mentioned changes and we determine sets of cases comprising the modifications and we attempt to specify kinds of rules and principles resulting in different word orders. The sentence in the case of the subjective word order begins with an object, an adverbial of time, place, or condition. Anyway, not always a sentence constituent at the beginning of the sentence indicates the subjective word order. A significant role in the analysis is played by head- lines, which affect considerably the result. We focus ou attention on sentences expressing a placement on the scene. These sentences are assessed in relation with the head-lines...