Int. J. Nat. Soc. Sci., Research Report
Web Release Date: Dec.15, 2009

Copyright © 2008-2009 International Association of Natural and Social Science

Theme & Rheme in US President’s Inaugural Addresses

Liu Yu’e*

Department of College Foreign languages Teaching, Shandong University at Weihai, Weihai, Shandong, China; Tel: 13181882326; Email: Lillianliu01@163.com

Received Aug.11, 2009      

Abstract:

Halliday’s framework of Theme and Rheme is used in this paper to analyze the inaugural addresses delivered by two previous US presidents, aiming at finding out how the clauses are thematically arranged to develop the addressee’s ideas and whether they share uniform characteristics. It is discovered that both speeches have dominant use of constant Thematic Progression patterns, bear great similarity in the ideational content of the unmarked topical themes, while marked themes in both texts have relatively low frequency.

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