Didactics of Translation: Text in Context

Thematic structure and information structure

Among the main studies which have contributed to the rise of a linguistics of text is the analysis of thematic and information structures.
These two structures, which will be examined later, are said to play a key role in information flow, which is another major characteristic of text. Concerning this point, Baker (1992: 121) says:
One needs to think of the clause as a message rather than as a string of grammatical and lexical elements. Over and above its propositional organization in terms of elements such as subject/object and agent/patient, a clause also has an interactional organization which reflects the addresser/addressee relationship. It is this interactional organization which motivates us to make choices that ensure that a clear progression of links is achieved and that a coherent point of view is maintained throughout a text.
Thus, the information flow considered here has to do with the clause as a message having a certain “interactional organization which reflects the addresser/addressee relationship”. More specifically, the speaker/writer

will choose a particular linear arrangement in order “to achieve a clear progression of links and to maintain a coherent point of view”, thereby ensuring a clear flow of information in a given context.

The clause as a message thus yields two types of structures: a thematic structure and an informative structure. Both these aspects of the clause as a message have been approached differently by Halliday on the one hand and the Prague School linguists on the other.

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