Wednesday, 19 December 2018

Marked Theme In An Existential Clause


No great and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, though many there be who have tried it.
 — Herman Melville


No great and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea
though many there be
who have tried it
α
x β
α
β


though
many
there
be

Existent

Process: existential
Theme: marked
Rheme

Complement
Subject
Finite
Predicator


Note that the Subject is not "unmarked Theme".

Sunday, 9 December 2018

Emotion-Imbued Cognitive Projection


I am unable to look at my customer in the dock
without feeling
there but for the Grace of God goes Horace Rumpole
α
+ β
1
' 2


I
am unable to look
at my customer in the dock
Behaver
Process: behavioural
Location: orientation

without
feeling

Process: mental: cognition

there
but for the Grace of God
goes
Horace Rumpole
Theme: marked
Rheme
Location
Contingency: default
Process: material
Actor
Attribute: circumstantial
Process: relational
Carrier
Adjunct
Adjunct
Predicator
Finite
Subject
Residue
Mood


The above analysis assumes the Mood Tag would be doesn't he (rather than doesn't there).
This analysis is supported by the phonological salience of there.