Abstract

MONTEMAYOR-BORSINGER, ANN. 'Theme' as point of departure: pedagogical implications. Zona prox. [online]. 2013, n.18, pp.113-123. ISSN 2145-9444.

This paper discusses from the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistics the importance of considering 'Theme' as the point of departure of the clause. A detailed analysis of the successive points of departure of a variety of texts in Spanish highlights the structuring of what is named here the 'semantic skeleton' of the text. The paper further examines the functions of different types of Theme and how discourse flow can be modified by changing their combination and sequence. This positional consideration, which contrasts with an infomation driven consideration of Theme as given, provides powerful pedagogical tools for a detailed understanding of discourse organization.

Keywords : Systemic Functional Linguistics applied to Spanish; Theme; point of departure; semantic frame of the text.

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