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Session 10-Chapter 14 - Focus, Theme, Emphasis

The document discusses information focus, theme, and emphasis in language. It covers topics like given and new information, information focus, end-focus, special or contrastive focus, theme and focus, thematic fronting, voice and end-focus, inversion, cleft sentences, existential sentences using 'there' and 'have', and extraposition.

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108 views31 pages

Session 10-Chapter 14 - Focus, Theme, Emphasis

The document discusses information focus, theme, and emphasis in language. It covers topics like given and new information, information focus, end-focus, special or contrastive focus, theme and focus, thematic fronting, voice and end-focus, inversion, cleft sentences, existential sentences using 'there' and 'have', and extraposition.

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tranducanh.khacorg
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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CHAPTER 14: FOCUS, THEME, AND

EMPHASIS

Pp 406-429
Exercises 263-275
Given and new information
E.g. Q- When shall we know what Mary is going to do?
A1- We will know next week.
A2- Next week.
GIVEN informa­tion: information already supplied by context
NEW information: information which has not been prepared
for in this way.
Given and new information
- if the nucleus falls on the last stressed syllable of the clause, the new
information could, for example, be the entire clause, or the predication
of the clause, or the last element of the clause.
Information focus
- FOCUS indicates where the new information lies.
END-FOCUS:
- The principle of END-FOCUS is that new information is normally
placed at the end of the clause the intonation nucleus occurs on
the last open-class item or proper noun in the clause.
E.g. Dylan Thomas was born in SWANsea.
I am painting my living room BLUE.
Information focus
SPECIAL OR CONTRASTIVE FOCUS:
- Special or contrastive focus or marked focus may be placed at earlier
points, and so may fall on any of the non-final elements of the clause.
+ Focus at S:
[Who was born in Swansea?] Dylan THOMas was (born in Swansea).
+ Focus at V:
[Dylan Thomas was married in Swansea, wasn’t he?] NO, he was
BORN in Swansea.
Information focus
SPECIAL OR CONTRASTIVE FOCUS:
- Special or contrastive focus or marked focus may be placed at earlier
points, and so may fall on any of the non-final elements of the clause.
+Focus at A:
[Have you ever driven a Cadillac?] YES, I’ve OFten driven one.
+ Focus on prepositions and pronouns:
Who are you working FOR? (not with)
He was speaking to ME (not to you).
Justify the FOCUS in each sentence below
(1)I am painting my living room BLUE.
(2)I am painting my LIVing room blue.
(3)I am painting MY living room blue.
(4)I am PAINTing my living room blue.
(5)I AM painting my living room blue.
(6) ‘I am painting my living room blue.
Theme and focus
- The initial unit of a clause (with the exception of initial adverbials)
may be called its THEME.
- THEME is the most important part of a clause from the point of
view of its presentation of a message, in sequence.
(1) Subject in a statement: He bought a new house
(2) Operator in a yes-no question: Did he buy a new house?
(3) Wh-element in a wh-question: Which house did he buy?
(4) Main verb in a command: Buy a new house
Theme and focus
- THEME and FOCUS are typically distinct: THEME is the
point of initiation, and FOCUS the point of completion.
- THEME is ‘given information’ more often than other part of
the clause, EXCEPT:
[Who gave you that magazine?] - BILL gave it to me.
 THEME and FOCUS coincide as the FOCUS falls on the
subject.
Thematic Fronting
- In informal speech, it is quite common for an element to be front­ed with nuclear
stress
To be ‘marked’ (or given special emphasis) both thematically and
informationally
- Cs as theme:
JOE his NAME is
- Co as theme:
RelaxAtion you call it!
- Od as theme:
Really good COCKtails they made at that hoTEL
Voice, end-focus, and end-weight

- One is the tendency to place new information towards the end of


the clause —the principle of end-focus
- Another is the tendency to reserve the final position for the more
complex ‘parts of a clause or sentence - the principle of end-
weight.
E.g. A: Who makes these chairs? B: They’re made by Ercol.
That he was prepared to go to such lengths astounded me.
I was astounded that he was prepared to go to such lengths.
Fill in each gap with a missing word
- In English, there is a tendency to place (1) n_________ information towards
the end of the clause – the principle of end (2) f_________.
(1)new
(2)focus
- Focus is related to the difference between (3)g________and (4) n________
informa­tion; that is to say, between information already supplied by context
and information which has not been prepared for in this way.
(3) given
(4) new
Fill in each gap with a missing word
- Contrastive (5)f_________, however, may be placed at earlier
points, and so may fall on any of the non-final (6) e________of
the clause.
(5) focus
(6) elements
- In English, there is a tendency to (7) r__________ the final
position for the more complex parts of a clause or sentence - the
principle of end (8) w________.
(7) reserve
(8) weight
Inversion
- SUBJECT-VERB INVERSION
E.g. Here comes the bus.
(A V S)
There, at the summit, stood the castle in its medieval splendour
(A A V S A)
In went the sun and down came the rain
(A V S, A V S)
Equally inexplicable was his behaviour towards his son
(C V S)
‘Go away!’ said one child; ‘And don’t come back!’ growled another.
Inversion
- SUBJECT-OPERATOR INVERSION
E.g. So absurd was his manner that everyone stared at
Under no circumstances must the switch be left on
Hardly had I left before the quarrelling started
Cleft sentences
CLEFT SENTENCES
- The cleft sentence divides a single clause into two separate sections, each with its
own verb  gives both thematic and focal prominence to a particular element of the
clause
- IT + BE + ELEMENT (of the clause that the focus falls) + THAT/WHO + …
E.g. John wore his best suit to the dance last night.
+ S as focus: It was JOHN who/that wore his best suit to the DANCE last night
+ Od as focus: It was his best SUIT (that) John wore to the DANCE last night
+ A-time as focus: It was last N iG H T (that) John wore his best suit to the dAnce
+ A-place as focus: It was to the DAnCE that John wore his best SUIT last night
Anticipatory ‘it’
- She is a pleasure to teach.
It
It is a pleasure to teach her.
- You seem to have made a mistake.
It
It seems that you have made a mistake.
- You appear to know all about his past life.
It
It appears that you know all about his past life.
Existential ‘there’
- subject + (auxiliaries) + be + predication
-> there + (auxiliaries) + be + subject + predication
SVC: Something must be wrong.
-> There must be something wrong.
SVA: Was anyone around?
-> Was there anyone around?
S V : No one was waiting.
-> There was no one waiting.
Existential ‘there’
- subject + (auxiliaries) + be + predication
-> there + (auxiliaries) + be + subject + predication
SVO: Plenty of people are getting promotion.
-> There are plenty of people getting promotion.
SVOC: Two bulldozers have been knocking the place flat.
-> There have been two bulldozers knocking the place flat.
Existential ‘there’ as subject
- It can act as subject in YES-NO and TAG questions:
Is there any more soup?
There is nothing wrong, is there?
There won’t be any difficulty, will there?
- It can act as subject in infinitive and ing-clauses:
I don’t want there to be any misunderstanding.
He was disappointed at there being so little to do.
Existential sentences with ‘relative clauses’

- there + be + noun phrase + clause resembling a


postmodifying clause
- Something keeps upsetting him
-> There’s something that keeps upsetting him
- I’d like you to meet some people
-> There’s some people (that) I’d like you to meet
Existential sentences with verbs other than ‘be’
S + V -> there + V + S
- There exist similar medieval crosses in different parts of the country
- There may come a time when Europe will be less fortunate
- Not long after this, there occurred a revolution in public taste

Aplace + (there) + V +S: (lie/ stand/ ride/ come …)


- In front of the carriage (there) rode two men in uniform
Existential sentences with ‘have’

- a noun phrase subject + have (or especially in BrE, have got) = (there +
be + S + predication)
E.g. 1. He has several friends in Paris
 There are several friends (of his) in Paris; or Several friends (of his)
are in Paris
2. I have two buttons missing (on my jacket)
There are two buttons missing ...; Two buttons are missing …
3. They had a few supporters helping them
 There were a few supporters helping them; A few supporters were
Extraposition
- removing an element from its normal position, and placing it towards or at the
end of the sentence.  END-FOCUS + END-WEIGHT
 EXTRAPOSITION = postponement which involves the replacement of the
postponed element (especially a nominal clause) by a substitute form.
subject + predicate  it + predicate + subject
E.g. It’s a pity to make a fool of yourself
(To make a fool of yourself is a pity)
It’s no use telling him that
(Telling him that is no use)

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