Exploring Predicated Themes from a Systemic Functional Point of View in Alan Paton's Novels

Bibliographic Data

ID20156646
AuthorsMaría Martínez Lirola (0000-0002-6427-425X, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume24
Issue1
Pages100-127
Publication date2008-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Literary Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0256-4718 • E-ISSN: 1753-5387
PublisherUnisa Press (PUBLISHER • ZA)
DOI10.1080/02564710701789073
OpenAlexW1993618580
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited11

This paper intends to prove that the recurrent use of predicated themes in the novels written by the South African writer Alan Paton has certain communicative implications, since they are appropriate to express feelings, and to highlight information in situations of climax in the novels under analysis. The analysis of this syntactic structure in context will point out that predicated themes allow the writer to be conscious that he is asserting or denying something in a firm way; the predicated theme is also an important structure for the textual organisation of discourse. The linguistic framework for this paper is systemic functional linguistics (Halliday & Matthiessen 2004), a linguistic school that establishes a clear link between lexicogrammatical choices in the text, and the relevant contextual factors surrounding it. Systemic linguistics explores how linguistic choices are related to the meanings that are being expressed

Epistemology · Feeling · Linguistics · Sociology · Systemic functional grammar · Systemic functional linguistics · Computer Science · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · History · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Lexicography and Language Studies · Philosophy

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