Figure-Ground in Relation to Information Devices

Table 31. Summary of information devices The value of factoring out different types of focus aids in understanding how different postpositional particles in Burmese can each be labeled as topic yet function in relation to different types of informational prominence. Such a schema also validates the natural, intuitive sense of prominence for different sentential arguments particularly in the more complex structures of expository text argumentation.

5.3.3 Figure-Ground in Relation to Information Devices

The gestalt Figure-Ground configuration relates in two ways to the informational device schema in table 31. In one type of Figure-Ground configuration, old information is topic. Topic, as theme of the discourse, is Figure in relation to the new information that is additive, always changing across the discourse span in relation to the steadiness of the topic which thereby attains a kind of textual focus by continuity. This is the typical form found with more transitive, narrative sentence relations. Such a Figure-Ground arrangement is represented in table 32. Figure Ground topic of discourse focus old information new information theme rheme Table 32. The highly transitive sentence gestalt A second type of informational gestalt occurs where old information is regarded as the Ground, the basis, the known, the background, the drone instrument, against a focally figured block of new information as the item of interest. In this type of conceptualization new information is more salient, and is the Figure. This reversal configuration is characterized in table 33. Ground Figure known salient old information new information steady reference frame variable anchor focus Table 33. The absolutive sentence gestalt Lambrecht 2000 refers to these two configurations in terms of presuppositional characteristics. The construct of table 32, he labels Argument Focus. It is the more marked in that this construction adds a new argument to a given predicate. The construct of Ground-Figure, which he labels Predicate Focus, is regarded as the normal construct of POS 3 POS 2 POS 1 Predicate Information Status Old information New information Position Low focus High focus Grammatical role Agent Patient …Purpose subject-predicate or topic-comment constructions with the predicate adding a new assertion to a given argument. Graphically, a summary of focus using weight-to-position indicated by an asterisk of these various parameters would look like table 34 with relative weight for the unmarked Burmese sentence. POS 3 POS 2 POS 1 Predicate Ground Figure Focus Table 34. Focus positions by relative weight for unmarked sentence However, sentence 6 in example 107, being more transitive with an overtly marked agent as source of the action and with an overt patient, results in a balanced weight of focus and a shift of Figure-Ground to that of the transitive gestalt table 35. POS 3 POS 2 POS 1 Predicate Figure Ground Focus Table 35. Focus positional weight of sentence 6—highly transitive gestalt The notion of topic in discourse is related to the sense of 1 local focus within the sentence, 2 to information structure both status and focus, and 3 to the wider notion of focus or figure to the background gestalt of the discourse. How these notions are played out in Burmese relates to the larger discourse chunks, particularly what we might naively regard as an orthographic paragraph.

5.3.3.1 Expository Text—National Day

The National Day text was selected as an example of a well-crafted, literary Burmese expository text. This text has been used for generations of students to teach not only Burmese but to make a particular point about the role of schoolchildren in the history of Burmese independence and to encourage patriotism. As an expository text genre, it is exemplified by explanation andor persuasion. It stands in contrast to Narrative genre, which tells a story and is characterized linguistically by chronological linkage and by its agent orientation. It also contrasts with Procedural genre, which tells how to do something and is characterized by chronological linkage and by being activity oriented rather than agent oriented. Expository text is typically characterized by more logical, non- chronological linkage although certain narrative elements are often found embedded within expository text and topic orientation rather than agent orientation. The textual genre distinctions typically result in different types of clause, sentence, paragraph, and discourse structures within the macro structure of each genre.

5.3.3.1.1 Discourse Units of the Text

The macrostructure of the text figure 63 follows the typical peak structure for Expository text Longacre 1996:36. Each Peak structure unit is marked by boundary features, and lexical cohesion internal to the unit. Tail-head linkage is manifest across structural boundary marking units S15–16. Space does not allow detail of these structures. The macrostructure shows two peaks, the thematic peak and the didactic peak. The overall structure of this Expository text is the typical Problem-Solution form followed by an Evaluation unit. One movement within the Problem unit is manifest by a brief embedded Narrative discourse. Another embedded discourse is found in the Evaluation unit—a Hortatory discourse with its own internal structure and characteristics of command and admonition. Figure 63. Macrostructure of National Day Text The types of surface features that support the notional boundaries are presented in relation to Peak structure in table 36. Peak Structure Sentences Surface Features Notional Structure Theme: Definition S1-3 introduction via presentational sentence. plural, polite Aperture Pre-Peak: Problem: a Causes S4-9 unmarked plural, polite changed, negative mood, Exposition b Results S10-13 increasing complication of S structure, mixed with light S. Developing conflict Thematic Peak: Solution S14-15 density of props participants, verbs of saying, complexity of structure, speed up information, peak S agentless, quote Climax S16 slow down information, equational clause, repeat quote structure of S15 Post Peak: Evaluation: S17 no plural, imperative mood Final resolution Finis: Admonition Didactic Peak S18 no plural, irrealis mood embedded in existence clause Conclusion Table 36. Peak structure of National Day Text

5.3.4 Textual Role of Topic in Burmese