Theme as point of departure in English and Spanish casual conversation
A contrastive study
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.
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
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Cited by (3)
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O’Grady, Gerard
2024.
Theme in spoken language: when a tone group is not a clause.
Journal of World Languages 10:1
► pp. 76 ff.

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