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Article published In:
Language, Context and Text
Vol. 4:2 (2022) ► pp.197–226

Theme as point of departure in English and Spanish casual conversation

A contrastive study

ORCID logo | Universidad Complutense de Madrid , Spain

This paper uses a trinocular approach – i.e. from below, from above and from roundabout – to describe Theme as point of departure (POD) in English and Spanish casual conversation (thus avoiding the more controversial ‘what-the-clause-is-about’ aspect of Theme). This research is part of a long-term contrastive study which includes the description of POD in academic writing and a crosslinguistic comparison of POD in academic writing and casual conversation. Among the main findings in this paper, the following stand out: (a) the identification of a conversational texture characterised by the interplay of textual and interpersonal strands of meaning; and (b) different POD arrangements of English and Spanish clauses in casual conversation, motivated by different ways of enacting communicative exchange.

Keywords: casual conversation, Theme, point of departure, systemic functional linguistics, English/Spanish contrasts, trinocular approach, texture, metafunctional interplay, discourse markers, gapped thematic progression
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Data and methodology
  • 3.The view from below: Realisations of POD in casual conversation
  • 4.The view from above: Functions of POD in casual conversation
  • 5.The view from roundabout
    • 5.1Threads of meaning in casual conversation
    • 5.2Thematic progression in casual conversation
  • 6.Conclusion and pointers to the future
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 29 September 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/langct.21009.aru
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