Abstracts - Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa

MICHAEL CUMMINGS, YORK UNIVERSITY, TORONTOCOHESION AND INFORMATION STRUCTURE: SFL AND FSP APPROACHESThis paper examines the role of cohesion in the realization of information structurein both Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and Functional Sentence Perspective(FSP). The SFL theories of Theme/Rheme and Given/New have as their backgroundthe Prague School theory of communicative dynamism, which has developed underthe label FSP. SFL distinguishes Theme, what the clause is all about, from GivenInformation, what the speaker projects as relatively recoverable by the hearer, andRheme, the thematic residue, from New Information, what the speaker projects asnewsworthy (Halliday & Matthiessen 2004:66-67, 89-91). FSP uses the terms Themeand Rheme to represent a gradation within clausal information structure from themost accessible to the least, based on three principles: cohesion, semantics, andsequence (Firbas 1992:21-40,66-74). By analysis of spoken interpretations ofwritten texts, the paper will demonstrate the limitations of cohesion as a partialguide to the information structure of written texts in both theories, and comparethe success of alternative resources – other grammar structures and discoursestructure in the case of SFL, semantics and linear sequence in the case of FSP.ReferencesFirbas, Jan. 1992. Functional Sentence Perspective in Written and Spoken Communication.Cambridge: Cambridge University.Halliday, M.A.K. & C.M.I.M. Matthiessen. 2004. An Introduction to Functional Grammar. 3 rd ed.London: Arnold.PAPER SESSION 8D - ROOM 4 - THURSDAY, 28 JULYISFC38 Book of Abstracts Page 145 Lisbon, July 2011