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115
Mary is fond of poetry.
In the cited sentence, if we approach it as a stylistically neutral construction devoid of any specific
connotations, the theme is expressed by the subject, and the rheme, by the predicate. This kind of actual
division is "direct". On the other hand, a certain context may be built around the given sentence in the
conditions of which the order of actual division will be changed into the reverse: the subject will turn into the
exposer of the rheme, while the predicate, accordingly, into the exposer of the theme. Cf.
"Isn't it surprising that Tim is so fond of poetry?"-"But you are wrong. Mary is fond of poetry, not Tim."
The actual division in which the rheme is expressed by the subject is to be referred to as "inverted".
§ 3. The close connection of the actual division of the sentence with the context in the conditions of which
it is possible to divide the informative parts of the communication into those "already known" by the listener
and those "not yet known" by him, gave cause to the recognized founder of the linguistic theory of actual
division J. Mathesius to consider this kind of sentence division as a purely semantic factor sharply opposed to
the "formally grammatical" or "purely syntactic" division of the sentence (in our terminology called its
"nominative" division).
One will agree that the actual division of the sentence will really lose all connection with syntax if its
components are to be identified solely on the principle of their being "known" or "unknown" to the listener.
However, we must bear in mind that the informative value of developing speech consists not only in
introducing new words that denote things and phenomena not mentioned before; the informative value of
communications lies also in their disclosing various new relations between the elements of reflected events,
though the elements themselves may be quite familiar to the listener. The expression of a certain aspect of these
relations, namely, the correlation of the said elements from the point of view of their immediate significance in
a given utterance produced as a predicative item of a continual speech, does enter the structural plane of
language. This expression becomes part and parcel of the structural system of language by the mere fact that the
correlative informative significance of utterance components are rendered by quite definite, generalized and
standardized lingual constructions. The functional purpose of such constructions is to reveal the meaningful
centre of the utterance (i.e. its rheme) in distinction to the starting point of its content (i.e. its theme).
These constructions do not present any "absolutely formal", "purely differential" objects of language which
are filled with semantic content only in the act of speech communication. On the contrary, they are bilateral
signemk units in exactly the same sense as other meaningful constructions of language, i.e. they are
distinguished both by their material form and their semantics. It follows from this that the constructional, or
immediately systemic side of the phenomenon which is called the "actual division of the sentence" belongs to
no other sphere of language than syntax. And the crucial syntactic destination of the whole aspect of the actual
division is its rheme-identifying function, since an utterance is produced just for the sake of conveying the
meaningful content expressed by its central informative part, i.e. by the rheme.
§
4. Among the formal means of expressing the distinction between the theme and the rheme investigators
name such structural elements of language as word-order patterns, intonation contours, constructions with
introducers, syntactic patterns of contrastivc complexes, constructions with articles and other determiners,
constructions with intensifying particles.
The difference between the actual division of sentences signalled by the difference in their word-order
patterns can be most graphically illustrated by the simplest type of transformations. Cf.:
The winner of the competition stood on the platform in the middle of the hall. >On the platform in the
middle of the hall stood the winner of the competition. Fred didn't notice the flying balloon. >The one who
didn't notice the flying balloon was Fred. Helen should be the first to receive her diploma. >The first to receive
her diploma should be Helen.
In all the cited examples, i.e. both base sentences and their transforms, the rheme (expressed either by the
subject or by an element of the predicate group) is placed towards the end of the sentence, while the theme is
positioned at the beginning of it. This kind of positioning the components of the actual division corresponds to
the natural development of thought from the starting point of communication to its semantic centre, or, in
common parlance, from the "known data" to the "unknown (new) data". Still, in other contextual conditions,
the reversed order of positioning the actual division components is used, which can be shown by the following
illustrative transformations:
It was unbelievable to all of them. >Utterly unbelievable it was to all of them. Now you are speaking
magic words, Nancy. > Magic words you are speaking now, Nancy. You look so well! >How well you took!