Theme Rheme
Relatively predictable information Relatively unpredictable information
(already known information) --------------------> (new information)
Sentences can be divided up into some elements. Some provide at least relatively predictable information (theme) and others provide at least relatively unpredictable information (rheme) (Dickins, 2008: 116).
Consider the following from a text on Ayatollah Khomeini (from Dickins and Watson 1999: 461, Cited in Dickins, 2008: 116):
Ayatollah Khomeini was the son of a cleric. He was born in 1903 in the small town of Khomein in Isfahan province.
In the first sentence 'Ayatollah Khomeini' is relatively predictable (theme) for two reasons: first, it is likely through our previous knowledge of the world that we will know the name 'Ayatollah Khmomeini'. Second, since the whole text is about Ayatollah Khomeini, we may say that the element 'Ayatollah Khomeini' is going to be predictable throughout.
'was the son of a cleric' is new information, and accordingly the rheme of this sentence.
In the first sentence 'Ayatollah Khomeini' is relatively predictable (theme) for two reasons: first, it is likely through our previous knowledge of the world that we will know the name 'Ayatollah Khmomeini'. Second, since the whole text is about Ayatollah Khomeini, we may say that the element 'Ayatollah Khomeini' is going to be predictable throughout.
'was the son of a cleric' is new information, and accordingly the rheme of this sentence.
In the second sentence the information given by 'He' is highly predictable, because it refers to 'Ayatollah Khomeini' mentioned in the previous sentence. 'He' accordingly identifies someone already known about in the text, and is the theme of this sentence.
'was born in the small town of Khomein in Isfahan province', by contrast, is unpredictable; the information here is all new, and is accordingly the rheme.
Theme-rheme order
Both the sentences 'Ayatollah Khomeini was the son of a cleric.' and 'He was born in 1903 in the small town of Khomein in Isfahan province.' illustrate a general tendency for theme to precede rheme. This can be regarded as a 'natural order' in that it mirrors the order of things in the real world. When we try to work out something new, we start with what is known and proceed from there to what is not known (Dickins, 2008: 117).
Theme and rheme relevance to stress
Ayatollah Khomeini was the son of a cleric.
If you read the above sentence out loud, you will hear that the sentence stress falls on 'cleric'. The general tendency in both English and Arabic is for stress to fall on a word in the rheme.
However, consider the following:
What happened to you?
(a) I got stung by a bee.
(b) A bee stung me.
What is the difference between response (a) and (b)?
Response (a) follows the standard theme-first theme-rheme order, and the sentence-stress falls on 'bee'.
Response (b) has the reverse 'rheme-theme' order, but here again, sentence-stress falls on 'bee'.
Where rheme precedes theme in English, as in response (b), the sentence tends to carry certain emotional charge; it is much more associated with annoyance or some other strong emotion than it is in response (a).
Emphatic preposing
In the early sixties, Ayatollah Khomeini led the movement against the Shah of Iran's 'White Revolution'.
In this sentence, 'in the early sixties' is not the main theme. It can be termed a preposed emphatic theme. 'Preposed' means 'placed before the subject'.
'Emphatic' means that there is some sense of 'picking out' the element for a special purpose; here the purpose is for linkage and contrast with a number of similarly preposed time-phrases in subsequent sentences.
Therefore, there are two sentence-stresses. The main sentence-stress falls on 'Revolution', i.e. the end of the rheme. The secondary stress (signalled by a rising pitch) falls on 'sixties'. Such secondary stress can be termed phrasal stress.
However, consider the following:
What happened to you?
(a) I got stung by a bee.
(b) A bee stung me.
What is the difference between response (a) and (b)?
Response (a) follows the standard theme-first theme-rheme order, and the sentence-stress falls on 'bee'.
Response (b) has the reverse 'rheme-theme' order, but here again, sentence-stress falls on 'bee'.
Where rheme precedes theme in English, as in response (b), the sentence tends to carry certain emotional charge; it is much more associated with annoyance or some other strong emotion than it is in response (a).
Emphatic preposing
In the early sixties, Ayatollah Khomeini led the movement against the Shah of Iran's 'White Revolution'.
In this sentence, 'in the early sixties' is not the main theme. It can be termed a preposed emphatic theme. 'Preposed' means 'placed before the subject'.
'Emphatic' means that there is some sense of 'picking out' the element for a special purpose; here the purpose is for linkage and contrast with a number of similarly preposed time-phrases in subsequent sentences.
Therefore, there are two sentence-stresses. The main sentence-stress falls on 'Revolution', i.e. the end of the rheme. The secondary stress (signalled by a rising pitch) falls on 'sixties'. Such secondary stress can be termed phrasal stress.
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