According to Halliday 1985:53, there are three main types of theme –
experimental, interpersonal and textual. Experimental themes deal with the content or topic of a clause; textual themes are concerned with the construction of
a message, whereas interpersonal themes involve an „interactive exchange‟. All
three elements may not be necessarily present in the theme, but there is always an ideationalexperiential element in the clause. Halliday, 1985:53
a. IdeationalTopical Theme
A theme is differentiated as being unmarked theme and marked theme. The unmarked theme is found in declarative clauses where the topical theme
conflates with the subject of the clause. Marked theme is some other element such as an adverbial group or prepositional phrase.
Unmarked Theme
The man Went to the beach
Theme Rheme
Marked Theme
His crown His broke
Theme Rheme
Gerot and Wignel, 1994 We can analyze theme of the clause in different moods declarative, interrogative,
imperative and exclamative mood. The example of each mood ca be seen below.
Theme in Declarative Clauses
In declarative clause, the subject is the element that is consent as theme unless there is good reason for choosing something else. The most usual form of
marked theme is an adverbial group, e.g. today, suddenly, or prepositional phrase, e.g. at night, in the corner, etc.
Theme in Interrogative Clauses
The typical function of the interrogative clause is to ask question. The natural theme of a question, therefore, is ‟what I want to know‟. Thus, in both
kinds of interrogative clause the choice of a typical „unmarked‟ thematic pattern is clearly motivated, since this pattern has evolved as the means of carrying the bacis
message of the clause. Theme in yesno interrogative Hallyday, 1989:46
Can you
Find me an acre of land ? Is
anybody At home ?
Should Old acquaintance
Be forgot ? Theme 1
Theme 2 Rheme
Theme in Imperative Clauses
According to gerot and Wignel 1994, there are two ways of treating Theme in imperative clauses:
Either in Rheme only Write your name in the upper right hand corner
Rheme
Or treat the process as Theme Write
your name in the upper right hand corner Theme
Rheme
Theme in Exclamative Clauses
Gerot and Wignel 1994:113 also states that theme in exclamative clauses consists of wh-element plus either a nominal group or an adverbial group.
How nice the place It is
Theme Rheme
b. Textual Theme
Textual theme relates the clause to its context. They can be continuatives andor continuatives adjuncts and conjunction. The line between conjunction and
continuatives adjuncts are often of line one. One different is that conjunctive adjuncts are free to move in clause whereas conjunction is pretty well restricted to
being at the beginning.
c. Multiple Theme
