not too difficult to follow” Longenecker 1981:316f.. The passage includes miracles being done by the apostles 12a, the disciples meeting together 12b, a respectful distancing by the general populace 13,
numerical growth 14, sick being brought, from Jerusalem and outside, and being healed 15–16. There is no obvious macropredication or goal. The church itself could be a possible topic, being referred to by
pronouns they and them in lines 12b–15, although there are references to other groups as well. The most obvious theme seems to be situational; it is difficult to summarize, but that seems to be common with
situational themes. The situation heads the descriptive schema, which is partitive in the sense that different aspects of the situation are successively described.
Texts with final goal themes may be rare Figure 15 lists no such schema types, provisional goal themes are extremely common. One example is “Stone soup” Appendix D, which has two global
provisional themes: the poor man as topic and his goal of obtaining food §2.2.7. The goal is the more inclusive theme and the head of its provisional schema for most of the text.
In each of these examples, it turns out that the maximally inclusive theme of the discourse space is also the head of its schema. To the extent that this turns out to be true for texts in general, and assuming
that multiple themes of the same kind make no problems for coherence §3.4.5, this seems to provide an answer to the question about coherence: multiple themes do not make a discourse unit noncoherent
because the head of the schema includes all other themes.
It appears that heads of schemas are not only the maximally inclusive theme, but they tend to have cumulative content as a text is processed. For this reason, final heads perhaps in every case include
intermediate heads. In Figure 15, where final heads differ from intermediate heads, the final head is in every case a macropredication and the intermediate head is a less inclusive goal or situation. In “Stone
soup,” the intermediate goal head is replaced by a final macropredication, that the poor man obtained food by using his wits.
3.4.5 Multiple themes of the same kind
When a discourse schema has two different themes of the same kind, there is no reason to suppose that one will be semantically included in the other, as apparently happens with themes of different kinds
§3.4.4. Hence the questions arise: Would such a schema still have a single head? How can such a space be expected to be coherent? We will divide the situation into two cases: multiple themes of the same kind
which are less inclusive than macropredications and multiple macropredications themselves. In neither case is there a logically airtight conclusion; we simply observe certain situations in which the two above
questions answer themselves. Other problems could well arise in further data.
We begin by noting that, at least for discourse topics, according to Givón 1995:102, the situation we are considering here—multiple themes of the same type for the same discourse unit—does not occur:
“only one paragraph-node at a time is open for attaching chain-nodes”; this “probably applies at any given hierarchic level within the mental text structure.” In the present section the examples indicate a hypothesis
that modifies Givón’s claim: the head of the schema is unitary at any point in discourse processing. Multiple themes are either semantically included in the head or exist in different spaces.
• In Longacre’s 2003:6 analysis of The final diagnosis by Arthur Hailey New York: Doubleday,
1959, he gives the following as the novel’s global theme: “The struggle between progressives, headed up by Kent O’Donnell and conservatives, headed up by Joe Pearson, as to whether
progressive medicine will prevail at Three Counties Hospital, or negligence and outdated procedures will force the hospital to shut down.” The initial chapter “does not seem to foreground any particular
participant,” but subsequent chapters are about successive characters, in particular the two mentioned above. Longacre argues that the steps in the novel’s schema justify his global theme using criteria that
seem to be roughly equivalent to those of the present treatment. Longacre’s global theme is situational and intermediate, involving two conflicting goals, each of which is associated with a major
participant. The novel could be said to have two global topics and two opposing global goals, but the situational theme as intermediate head and a macropredication as final head the resolution of the
conflict are more inclusive than the two topics, and the final head subsumes the two goals.
• The traditional Mankanya text “Two wives” Appendix G has two participants as apparent global
topics. The cruel wife had the intermediate global goal of turning her husband against the kind wife;
this produced a situation in which the kind wife was unhappy and so gets rid of the hump on her back for which she was being ridiculed. The final macropredication is that the cruel wife failed in her goal
and came to grief. Once again, along with two global topics there are more inclusive themes at each point, either goals or situations as provisional heads and a resolving macropredication as final head.
One other feature of this text is that its successive episodes have
PARALLEL DEVELOPMENT
, that is, they have developmental similarities. In the first of two narrative episodes, the kind wife got rid of
her hump at a dance; in the second episode the cruel wife tries to do the same, but winds up with a second hump instead. In traditional narratives there are often distinctive patterns of parallel
development Dooley and Levinsohn 2001, §15.2.
Thus, multiple topics in the above two texts have a more inclusive theme, a goal or situation, which acts as a provisional theme up to the resolution, which makes available an even more inclusive final head,
a macropredication. In other texts, multiple topics turn out to be local and are also included in a small closed set which is a global topic. This is the case, for example, in a children’s book which has a
descriptive schema: one page is about horses, another is about chickens, another is about pigs, another is about cows, another is about sheep. These are not local topics, however; the global topic is the set of
“farm animals.” That topic heads a partitive schema, similar to the encyclopedia article about England mentioned in §3.4.4.
There are certain other texts which initially seem to have multiple topics but on closer inspection turn out to have only one. In a text in Ekoti Bantu, Mozambique whose title is ‘The story of Lion, his
daughter, and Hare’ Appendix H, all three of these participants are globally prominent. However, there are signals which point to Hare as the only global topic. He has the global goal of the story to marry
Lion’s daughter, and his mental states are reported by the narrator. He is the only participant who shows initiative. Lion’s role is to give access to the genre and to the text world, including the goal that Hare
ultimately achieves: ‘One day Mr Lion had a daughter who was a virgin and whom he wanted to get married’ line 03. Lion is also the authority figure who serves as a foil for Hare, who is ‘an
inconsequential person’ line 12. Lion’s daughter is merely an object of conquest; her behavior is manipulated by Hare. At any rate, the provisional head of the story schema is Hare’s goal to gain Lion’s
daughter as wife; the final head is the macropredication that he succeeds, and how he does it. At any point there is only one head, the maximally inclusive theme.
In §3.6.4 we consider discourse units which do have two topics, one of which is provides text-internal point of view. The two topics, however, belong to distinct spaces, on distinct levels of representation: an
internal accessor space and an accessed space, both of which are necessary for the representation of the discourse unit.
Thus, even though a given discourse unit may have multiple themes of the same type that are less than macropredications, they commonly, perhaps always, either belong to different spaces or are in a
more inclusive theme that heads the schema. For a discourse unit with multiple macropredications, however, there would appear to be more danger
of a maximally inclusive theme to head its schema. In examples that have come to light, however, the two macropredications belong to different spaces.
One text which has been analyzed as having multiple macropredications is the Book of Daniel. It has a single global topic in the person of Daniel §3.5.1, but Bruce 2003 presents substantial evidence that
the book has two propositional themes which are presented together throughout the book: a God is sovereign in the affairs of men;
b God honors those who honor him, even though they may initially suffer. Bruce’s evidence is outlined here.
• The first historical episode chapter 1 of Daniel, in which Daniel and his companions were brought
to Babylon for training to enter royal service, is largely for scene-setting and participant introduction, but its events, preliminary as they are, instantiate theme b: Daniel and his friends honored God by
observing dietary restrictions and he gave them health and wisdom: “To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could
understand visions and dreams of all kinds” 1:17, so that the king “found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom” 1:20.
• In the second historical episode chapter 2, Daniel and his friends besought “the God of heaven”
2:18 for the interpretation to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. When it was given to them, theme a is shown in the dream’s content “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be
destroyed,” 2:44, and both themes a and b are verbalized in praise and materialzed in rewards given by the king: “Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and
ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. The king said to Daniel, ‘Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this
mystery.’ Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men” 2:46–
48.
• In the third historical episode chapter 3, Daniel’s friends honored God by refusing to bow down to
the king’s statue. When they survived the fiery furnace, the king honored God: “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants They trusted
in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language
who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way” 3:28f.. He also
promoted God’s servants 3:30. Thus, theme b is instantiated and a is verbalized.
• The fourth historical episode chapter 4 is in the words of King Nebuchadnezzar himself. In it,
Daniel interpreted another dream of the king, which was then fulfilled. Theme a, God’s sovereignty, is verbalized both in Daniel’s interpretation of the dream and in the king’s praise once he is restored
to sanity: “You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you
acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes” 4:25; “Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His
dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation.… He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or
say to him: ‘What have you done?’.… Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just” 4:34b–35, 37. Daniel was
honored because he was able to interpret the dream, instantiating theme b, although this is not made explicit.
• In the fifth historical episode chapter 5, Daniel was brought to King Belshazzar to interpret the
handwriting on the wall. When he did this, “at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the
kingdom” 5:29; this instantiates theme b. God’s sovereignty, theme a, is verbalized both in Daniel’s words to the king and, by implication, in the terrible and immediate fulfilment of the
message: “your father Nebuchadnezzar…acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone he wishes. But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not
humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. …you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways” 5:18, 22f.;
“That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two” 5:30f..
• In the sixth historical episode chapter 6, Daniel’s enemies maneuvered King Darius into punishing
Daniel for his faithfulness to God by having him thrown into a den of lions. Daniel’s preservation “because he had trusted in his God” 6:23 and his subsequent prosperity 6:28 instantiate theme b.
God’s sovereignty, theme a, besides being instantiated in Daniel’s rescue, was verbalized by the king: “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of
Daniel. For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and
on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions” 6:26f..
macropred: God honors those who honor him ch. 1: D friends obey, are promoted
ch. 2: D prays, gets interpretation, is honored ch. 3: Ds friends dont bow to idol, are saved
ch. 4: D interprets dream, is vindicated ch. 5: D testifies to Belshazzar, is honored
ch. 6: D is faithful, is saved in lions den macropred: God is sovereign in the affairs of men
macroprop: God controls world
rulers ch. 7-12
• Although Bruce does not analize the subsequent prophetic passages chapters 7–12 in detail, he
comments that “this section was given to encourage God’s people to live within terrifying earthly kingdoms by remaining confident that only God’s kingdom will last forever, for only He is truly
sovereign” 2003:182. Both themes a and b are verbalized explicitly in the beginning of this prophetic section: “His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom
is one that will never be destroyed” 7:14; “the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever” 7:18. God’s sovereignty, theme a, is both
instantiated and verbalized throughout the prophecy, and the rewards to his people, theme b, are stated clearly at the end: “There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the
beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to
everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever”
12:1–3.
Thus there do seem to be two propositional themes throughout the book, but different spaces are involved. The narrative episodes in chapters 1–6 instantiate theme b “God honors those who honor him”
with respect to Daniel and his companions, while the prophetic visions of chapters 7–12 have a macropredication something like c “God controls world rulers.” It is the book’s global macropredication
that corresponds to a “God is sovereign in the affairs of men.” This is shown in Figure 18.
Figure 18: Spaces in the Book of Daniel
The heavy double arrow in Figure 18 represents the fact that the global macropredication, theme a, occurs within the first part of the book. It is not a theme there, however, but a motif §2.2.5. Thus a
higher-level theme can occur as a motif. In other respects, however, Figure 18 turns out to be an oversimplification and is updated as Figure 29 in §3.6.4.
3.4.6 Order of presentation
