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Abstract： Theme Type Analysis， a basic entry point for discourse research， is committed to a better understanding of discourse structure and author’s thoughts. Based on Halliday's thematic structure theory in system- functional linguistics， this paper examines different theme types and the percentages of their uses in Remarks by Obama at 60th Anniversary of the Korean War Armistice to illustrate how diversified thematic structures can be possibly realized.
Key Words： theme type， thematic structure， speech text
1. Theoretical Foundation
Halliday defines the theme as “the theme is the element which serves as the point of departure of the message. The remainder of the message is called the rheme.” As a message structure， a clause consists of theme accompanied by rheme； and the structure is expressed by the order—whatever is chosen as the theme is put first.
Based on the complexity degree of the structure， Halliday classifies the theme into three broad categories： simple theme， multiple theme and clausal theme. In addition， according to whether the initial element conflates with the subject of the sentence or not， theme can be classified into marked theme and unmarked theme.
2. The background of the analyzing text
The speech was delivered on the day of July 27， 2013， which marks the 60th anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement. President Obama gave this remark to commemorate that Memorial Day to calls on Americans to observe the legacy of soldiers' sacrifice， marking 60 years since end of the war.
Korea war， which was fought between 1950 and 1953， involved North Korean and Chinese troops fighting against US-led United Nations and South Korean forces. It ended on 27 July 1953， 60 years ago on Saturday， with the signing of an armistice. In a proclamation declaring Saturday as National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day， the anniversary marks the end of the war and the beginning of a long and prosperous peace. In the six decades since the end of hostilities， South Korea has become a close US ally and one of the world's largest economies.
3. Interpretation of statistics from the perspective of Theme composition
During the speech process， the task of the speaker is to appeal to Americans to remember the great day of the Korean War Armistice， listen to the heroic stories of Korean War veterans and admire the sacrificed people and their contribution made to the country. To achieve the goal， the speaker must make good use of every sentence from the perspective of thematic structure so that the information can be received by the audience to the greatest extend. The statistics of Theme composition， where the occurrence and percentage of the simple theme and multiple theme are included， are presented in the following table. Theme Composition Occurrences Total
Simple Theme One Group or Phrase 54 84
Clausal theme 17
Thematic Equative 1
Predicated Theme 2
Preposed Theme 5
Multiple Theme Textual 31 36
Interpersonal 20
Experimental 36
Total 120
Theme Composition
Simple Theme Multiple Theme
One Group or Phrase Clausal theme Thematic
Equative Predicated
Theme Preposed Theme Textual Interpersonal Experimental
Percentage
In Category
64% 20% 1% 2% 6% 86% 56% 100%
Percentage
In text
45% 14% Less than
1% 2% 4% 30%
Total 70% 30%
According to the statistics， in the Remarks by Obama at 60th Anniversary of the Korean War Armistice， both simple theme and multiple theme are employed. But the occurrences of simple theme are much more frequent than those of multiple theme. In the speech， simple Theme appears 84 times while multiple theme appears 36 times. They count for 70% and 30% in the whole text respectively.
3.1 General Interpretation of the Application of Simple Theme
In the category of simple theme， the simple theme which contains one group or phrase taking up 64%， clausal theme 20%， thematic equatives only 1%， preposed theme 2%， predicated theme 2% and thematized comment 12.5%. Here is further detailed table about one group or phrase theme in simple theme.
Theme Composition Occurrences & Percentage in category Total
One Group or Phrase
Nominal Theme 22 26% 54 64%
Personal Pronoun Theme 8 9%
Adverbial Theme 3 4%
Prepositional Theme 14 17%
How-theme 3 4%
There be-theme 4 5%
Generally speaking， it is quite wise to mainly use simple theme in this speech， especially one group or phrase which accounts for 64%. They are short and easy to flow to the more complex structures behind. Detailed categories will be introduced according to the sequence of sentences in the text.
In this second sentence of this text， “（2）To our veterans -- many in your 80s， a few in your old uniforms which still fit let me just say you look outstanding.” Obama used a prepositional theme to set the tone of the speech and show great respect to the veterans in Korea War. And， another preposed theme sentence like “（4） July 27th， 1953 -- 60 years ago today， in the village of Panmunjom， in a barren room， the generals ....” Obama recalls this heroic story with the historical time “July 27th， 1953” explaining that the time length “60 years ago today” and place “in the village of Panmunjom， in a barren room” and the people “the generals” which creates the vivid scene of signing the Korea War Armistice. “（7）A Marine raised his bugle and played taps. （8） And a soldier spoke for millions when he said， “Thank God it is over.” In these two sentences， the speaker uses respectively nominal theme and multiple theme， to specify the historical action to end the war and cites what a solider said at that moment to express most soldiers’ desire for peace and ease.
Among the one group or phrase， the nominal theme takes up a relatively high percentage 26%. For example， “（S10～12） Soldiers emptied their sandbags …across the ocean.” Nominal theme is used successively in this part， the speaker presents the history to the audiences. Apart from the nominal theme， the prepositional theme ranks after it. For instance， “（15） Unlike the Second World War， Korea did not galvanize our country. （16） These veterans did not return to parades. （17）Unlike Vietnam， Korea did not tear at our country. （18）These veterans did not return to protests. In this part， prepositional theme and nominal theme are alternately used， “Unlike the second war” and “Unlike the Vietnam war” which differentiate the Korea War from them and add a special significance on the Korea War. “（27）In our hurried lives， Let us pause.” Obama urged Americans to take time from their "hurried lives" to listen to the heroic stories of Korean War veterans and let us be awed by their shining deeds. Then what are following closely are three paragraphs in which five successive imperative clauses are scattered paralleling as the head sentences respectively：
（30）Listen closely and hear the story of a generation… （34）Listen， and hear how these Americans faced down their fears… （38）Listen， and hear of their gallantry…（43）Listen， and hear how perhaps the only thing…（46）Listen to these veterans
Obama employs imperative theme “listen， and hear” to enhance the emotion of remarks， calling for people to remember the story of history， to admire their brevity in front of difficulties.
In “（S38～42） Listen， and hear of their gallantry…”this paragraph， How they held the line ... How they landed at Inchon... How， surrounded and freezing， they battled... And how they fought ….
That the four “how-theme” are employed seems to reappear vividly the scene that how the soldiers underwent the hardship to achieve the fire cease of the Korea War.
After the flurry of four “how-theme”， four “there-be theme” are applied in the next paragraph：
（S46～50）Listen to these veterans and you’ll also hear of the resilience of the human spirit. There was compassion….There was love….There was the dark humor of war…And there was hope …. This part again is pushed to the climax by the speaker to enhance the emotion and call on the current generation to learn the spirit of compassion， love， humor and hope from the old generation when they are confronted with such a predicament.
One interesting thing need to be mentioned， that is， in the whole text， there is only one thematic equative： （64） That is what we do. In order to better understand it， I will explain with its surrounding context：
（63）Today， as we end a decade of war and reorient our forces for the future， as we make hard choices at home， …
（63） and （64） is just a specific-general structure or a reason-result structure， and this is definitely the function of thematic equative， so here， it is to clearly and succinctly state its meaning： Korea war declares to the world that the United States of America will maintain the strongest military the world has ever known.
The reason why thematic equative， predicated theme and preposed theme are scarcely employed is probably that they are too long at length， compared with simple Theme of only one group， for the audience to grasp， especially for the audiences who are listening to more than 2000-word speech. The short information starters can help the audience release the tension， nervousness or boredom developed in the last speech， giving their working mind a short break.
3.2 General Interpretation of the Application of Multiple Theme
There are totally 36 multiple theme in the speech， accounting for 30% in all the themes. And it is interesting to find out that multiple themes are distributed dominantly among the later half part of the text. The three elements， textual elements， interpersonal elements and experimential elements， that constitute multiple Themes are all found in the address. The textual elements take 86%， interpersonal element 56% and experimential elements 100%.
According to the regular rule of multiple theme， experimential element is the basic element in the multiple theme. Some typical examples will be given as follow： （13） And describing the moment he passed under the Golden Gate Bridge，… （14） Yet ask these veterans here today and many will tell you ... “and” as the textual element is broadly employed in this address and examples won’t be listed one by one here. The reason is possibly for keeping the smoothness and continuity of the expression. And the other textual element "Yet" appears in （14）， which follows right behind （13）.The purpose of putting it in this place is probably to tell audiences the special significance of Korea war. （63）Today， as we end a decade of war and… （73） Today， let us remember that.... （74）And as this war ends and we welcome them home…. The word "today" is used more than one time which functions to distinguish the past and the present. It brings the audience back to the current reality from the memory of the remarkable historical events. The reason why this war is of greatness is that the task of ending the war and attaining the peace is very tough beyond our imagination and that takes many soldiers’ lives. The experimential element is the core element in multiple theme. Most of multiple theme consists of two elements， the textual element and the experimential element. For textual element like “and， but， yet” is connected two relative sentences to mark a transition of each section of the address or maintain the fluency of sentences. Three elements are applied simultaneously in one sentence with the amount of twenty， among which the interpersonal element is to show the speaker’s attitude. Typical examples are presented at the end of the speech： （116～119） May God bless those who gave all in Korea. May God bless you…And may God continue to bless these United States of America. The first three sentences all consists of interpersonal elements （“may” is auxiliary verb） to strongly express Obama’s best wishes for all soldiers and their families and America’s alliances. Finally ，the fourth one is connected with the word “and” to follow the same pattern as the former three sentences which pushes the speech to the climax and the end of it.
4. A Short Interpretation from the Perspective of Theme Status
As to the aspect of markedness， the unmarked theme is dominant in public speeches. The reason is that the choice of unmarked theme can help the audience quickly understand the speaker’s intention. The speaker also chooses marked theme to make the speech more coherent. According to the statistics， in this address， marked Theme appears 50 times while unmarked Theme appears 70 times. They count for 42% and 58% in the whole text respectively. The statistics shows that the marked Theme is used more frequently than the unmarked Theme in the speech. The table about the distribution of marked Theme and unmarked Theme is presented below.
Theme Status Occurrences Percentage
Marked 54 45%
Unmarked 66 55%
Generally speaking， the distribution of marked Theme and unmarked Theme is alternately arranged. Sometimes “ M+U+M+U” pattern or “M+M+M+U+U” pattern or “M+U+M+M+U+U” pattern and so on， or vise versa. Take one for example （all markedness of the whole text will not be interpreted）：
（60 unmarked） As we listen to the story of your service...（61 unmarked） Korea taught us the perils…. （62 marked）After the Second World War， a rapid drawdown…. （63 marked）Today， as we end a decade of war….
Above is a selected paragraph. This pattern is U+U+M+M， which is alternately distributed. The pronoun "we" is a kind of communication between the speaker and the audiences and narrows the distance between them. Besides， by doing this， the emotion is even stronger especially in contrast with the relatively low mood represented by the previous same two unmarked Themes.
5. Conclusion
To sum up， Remarks by Obama at 60th Anniversary of the Korean War Armistice is a successful speech due to certain thematic characteristics below：
From the perspective of Theme composition， simple Theme predominates in one group theme to make the audiences feel easy to understand information. The textual element appears in the initial position such as “and” “but” to plays the connection or transition role in the subject turn and help to make sure the coherence of the context. The function of the interpersonal element is to narrow the distance of the speaker and the listeners.
From the perspective of Theme status， the distribution of marked Theme and unmarked Theme presents alternately. It gives a smooth flow in the delivery and enhance the emotional peak in the end to its greatest extend.
Reference：
[1] Bloor， T. & Bloor， M. 1995. The Functional Analysis of English： A Hallidayan Approach [M]. London： Edward Arnold. 81.
[2] Halliday and Matthiessen. 1997. Systemic Functional Grammar： A First Step into the Theory [M].
[3]黃灿，罗辉. 蚌埠学院学报[J].2013.6.：Vol. 2， No.3.
[4]贺欣欣. 奥巴马竞选获胜演讲稿的主位结构分析[J].2010.6.： Vol.30 No.2
[5]朱永生. 主位推进模式与语篇分析 [J]. 外语教学与研究，1996，第3期.
第一作者：刘闽莉（1990.01—），女，24岁，汉族，湖南邵阳，广西大学外国语学院2012级英语专业硕士研究生，研究方向：外国语言学及应用语言学
第二作者：孙樱（1987.12——），女，26岁，仫佬族，籍贯广西，广西大学外国语学院2012级外国语言学及应用语言学硕士研究生 ，研究方向外国语言学及应用语言学
Key Words： theme type， thematic structure， speech text
1. Theoretical Foundation
Halliday defines the theme as “the theme is the element which serves as the point of departure of the message. The remainder of the message is called the rheme.” As a message structure， a clause consists of theme accompanied by rheme； and the structure is expressed by the order—whatever is chosen as the theme is put first.
Based on the complexity degree of the structure， Halliday classifies the theme into three broad categories： simple theme， multiple theme and clausal theme. In addition， according to whether the initial element conflates with the subject of the sentence or not， theme can be classified into marked theme and unmarked theme.
2. The background of the analyzing text
The speech was delivered on the day of July 27， 2013， which marks the 60th anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement. President Obama gave this remark to commemorate that Memorial Day to calls on Americans to observe the legacy of soldiers' sacrifice， marking 60 years since end of the war.
Korea war， which was fought between 1950 and 1953， involved North Korean and Chinese troops fighting against US-led United Nations and South Korean forces. It ended on 27 July 1953， 60 years ago on Saturday， with the signing of an armistice. In a proclamation declaring Saturday as National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day， the anniversary marks the end of the war and the beginning of a long and prosperous peace. In the six decades since the end of hostilities， South Korea has become a close US ally and one of the world's largest economies.
3. Interpretation of statistics from the perspective of Theme composition
During the speech process， the task of the speaker is to appeal to Americans to remember the great day of the Korean War Armistice， listen to the heroic stories of Korean War veterans and admire the sacrificed people and their contribution made to the country. To achieve the goal， the speaker must make good use of every sentence from the perspective of thematic structure so that the information can be received by the audience to the greatest extend. The statistics of Theme composition， where the occurrence and percentage of the simple theme and multiple theme are included， are presented in the following table. Theme Composition Occurrences Total
Simple Theme One Group or Phrase 54 84
Clausal theme 17
Thematic Equative 1
Predicated Theme 2
Preposed Theme 5
Multiple Theme Textual 31 36
Interpersonal 20
Experimental 36
Total 120
Theme Composition
Simple Theme Multiple Theme
One Group or Phrase Clausal theme Thematic
Equative Predicated
Theme Preposed Theme Textual Interpersonal Experimental
Percentage
In Category
64% 20% 1% 2% 6% 86% 56% 100%
Percentage
In text
45% 14% Less than
1% 2% 4% 30%
Total 70% 30%
According to the statistics， in the Remarks by Obama at 60th Anniversary of the Korean War Armistice， both simple theme and multiple theme are employed. But the occurrences of simple theme are much more frequent than those of multiple theme. In the speech， simple Theme appears 84 times while multiple theme appears 36 times. They count for 70% and 30% in the whole text respectively.
3.1 General Interpretation of the Application of Simple Theme
In the category of simple theme， the simple theme which contains one group or phrase taking up 64%， clausal theme 20%， thematic equatives only 1%， preposed theme 2%， predicated theme 2% and thematized comment 12.5%. Here is further detailed table about one group or phrase theme in simple theme.
Theme Composition Occurrences & Percentage in category Total
One Group or Phrase
Nominal Theme 22 26% 54 64%
Personal Pronoun Theme 8 9%
Adverbial Theme 3 4%
Prepositional Theme 14 17%
How-theme 3 4%
There be-theme 4 5%
Generally speaking， it is quite wise to mainly use simple theme in this speech， especially one group or phrase which accounts for 64%. They are short and easy to flow to the more complex structures behind. Detailed categories will be introduced according to the sequence of sentences in the text.
In this second sentence of this text， “（2）To our veterans -- many in your 80s， a few in your old uniforms which still fit let me just say you look outstanding.” Obama used a prepositional theme to set the tone of the speech and show great respect to the veterans in Korea War. And， another preposed theme sentence like “（4） July 27th， 1953 -- 60 years ago today， in the village of Panmunjom， in a barren room， the generals ....” Obama recalls this heroic story with the historical time “July 27th， 1953” explaining that the time length “60 years ago today” and place “in the village of Panmunjom， in a barren room” and the people “the generals” which creates the vivid scene of signing the Korea War Armistice. “（7）A Marine raised his bugle and played taps. （8） And a soldier spoke for millions when he said， “Thank God it is over.” In these two sentences， the speaker uses respectively nominal theme and multiple theme， to specify the historical action to end the war and cites what a solider said at that moment to express most soldiers’ desire for peace and ease.
Among the one group or phrase， the nominal theme takes up a relatively high percentage 26%. For example， “（S10～12） Soldiers emptied their sandbags …across the ocean.” Nominal theme is used successively in this part， the speaker presents the history to the audiences. Apart from the nominal theme， the prepositional theme ranks after it. For instance， “（15） Unlike the Second World War， Korea did not galvanize our country. （16） These veterans did not return to parades. （17）Unlike Vietnam， Korea did not tear at our country. （18）These veterans did not return to protests. In this part， prepositional theme and nominal theme are alternately used， “Unlike the second war” and “Unlike the Vietnam war” which differentiate the Korea War from them and add a special significance on the Korea War. “（27）In our hurried lives， Let us pause.” Obama urged Americans to take time from their "hurried lives" to listen to the heroic stories of Korean War veterans and let us be awed by their shining deeds. Then what are following closely are three paragraphs in which five successive imperative clauses are scattered paralleling as the head sentences respectively：
（30）Listen closely and hear the story of a generation… （34）Listen， and hear how these Americans faced down their fears… （38）Listen， and hear of their gallantry…（43）Listen， and hear how perhaps the only thing…（46）Listen to these veterans
Obama employs imperative theme “listen， and hear” to enhance the emotion of remarks， calling for people to remember the story of history， to admire their brevity in front of difficulties.
In “（S38～42） Listen， and hear of their gallantry…”this paragraph， How they held the line ... How they landed at Inchon... How， surrounded and freezing， they battled... And how they fought ….
That the four “how-theme” are employed seems to reappear vividly the scene that how the soldiers underwent the hardship to achieve the fire cease of the Korea War.
After the flurry of four “how-theme”， four “there-be theme” are applied in the next paragraph：
（S46～50）Listen to these veterans and you’ll also hear of the resilience of the human spirit. There was compassion….There was love….There was the dark humor of war…And there was hope …. This part again is pushed to the climax by the speaker to enhance the emotion and call on the current generation to learn the spirit of compassion， love， humor and hope from the old generation when they are confronted with such a predicament.
One interesting thing need to be mentioned， that is， in the whole text， there is only one thematic equative： （64） That is what we do. In order to better understand it， I will explain with its surrounding context：
（63）Today， as we end a decade of war and reorient our forces for the future， as we make hard choices at home， …
（63） and （64） is just a specific-general structure or a reason-result structure， and this is definitely the function of thematic equative， so here， it is to clearly and succinctly state its meaning： Korea war declares to the world that the United States of America will maintain the strongest military the world has ever known.
The reason why thematic equative， predicated theme and preposed theme are scarcely employed is probably that they are too long at length， compared with simple Theme of only one group， for the audience to grasp， especially for the audiences who are listening to more than 2000-word speech. The short information starters can help the audience release the tension， nervousness or boredom developed in the last speech， giving their working mind a short break.
3.2 General Interpretation of the Application of Multiple Theme
There are totally 36 multiple theme in the speech， accounting for 30% in all the themes. And it is interesting to find out that multiple themes are distributed dominantly among the later half part of the text. The three elements， textual elements， interpersonal elements and experimential elements， that constitute multiple Themes are all found in the address. The textual elements take 86%， interpersonal element 56% and experimential elements 100%.
According to the regular rule of multiple theme， experimential element is the basic element in the multiple theme. Some typical examples will be given as follow： （13） And describing the moment he passed under the Golden Gate Bridge，… （14） Yet ask these veterans here today and many will tell you ... “and” as the textual element is broadly employed in this address and examples won’t be listed one by one here. The reason is possibly for keeping the smoothness and continuity of the expression. And the other textual element "Yet" appears in （14）， which follows right behind （13）.The purpose of putting it in this place is probably to tell audiences the special significance of Korea war. （63）Today， as we end a decade of war and… （73） Today， let us remember that.... （74）And as this war ends and we welcome them home…. The word "today" is used more than one time which functions to distinguish the past and the present. It brings the audience back to the current reality from the memory of the remarkable historical events. The reason why this war is of greatness is that the task of ending the war and attaining the peace is very tough beyond our imagination and that takes many soldiers’ lives. The experimential element is the core element in multiple theme. Most of multiple theme consists of two elements， the textual element and the experimential element. For textual element like “and， but， yet” is connected two relative sentences to mark a transition of each section of the address or maintain the fluency of sentences. Three elements are applied simultaneously in one sentence with the amount of twenty， among which the interpersonal element is to show the speaker’s attitude. Typical examples are presented at the end of the speech： （116～119） May God bless those who gave all in Korea. May God bless you…And may God continue to bless these United States of America. The first three sentences all consists of interpersonal elements （“may” is auxiliary verb） to strongly express Obama’s best wishes for all soldiers and their families and America’s alliances. Finally ，the fourth one is connected with the word “and” to follow the same pattern as the former three sentences which pushes the speech to the climax and the end of it.
4. A Short Interpretation from the Perspective of Theme Status
As to the aspect of markedness， the unmarked theme is dominant in public speeches. The reason is that the choice of unmarked theme can help the audience quickly understand the speaker’s intention. The speaker also chooses marked theme to make the speech more coherent. According to the statistics， in this address， marked Theme appears 50 times while unmarked Theme appears 70 times. They count for 42% and 58% in the whole text respectively. The statistics shows that the marked Theme is used more frequently than the unmarked Theme in the speech. The table about the distribution of marked Theme and unmarked Theme is presented below.
Theme Status Occurrences Percentage
Marked 54 45%
Unmarked 66 55%
Generally speaking， the distribution of marked Theme and unmarked Theme is alternately arranged. Sometimes “ M+U+M+U” pattern or “M+M+M+U+U” pattern or “M+U+M+M+U+U” pattern and so on， or vise versa. Take one for example （all markedness of the whole text will not be interpreted）：
（60 unmarked） As we listen to the story of your service...（61 unmarked） Korea taught us the perils…. （62 marked）After the Second World War， a rapid drawdown…. （63 marked）Today， as we end a decade of war….
Above is a selected paragraph. This pattern is U+U+M+M， which is alternately distributed. The pronoun "we" is a kind of communication between the speaker and the audiences and narrows the distance between them. Besides， by doing this， the emotion is even stronger especially in contrast with the relatively low mood represented by the previous same two unmarked Themes.
5. Conclusion
To sum up， Remarks by Obama at 60th Anniversary of the Korean War Armistice is a successful speech due to certain thematic characteristics below：
From the perspective of Theme composition， simple Theme predominates in one group theme to make the audiences feel easy to understand information. The textual element appears in the initial position such as “and” “but” to plays the connection or transition role in the subject turn and help to make sure the coherence of the context. The function of the interpersonal element is to narrow the distance of the speaker and the listeners.
From the perspective of Theme status， the distribution of marked Theme and unmarked Theme presents alternately. It gives a smooth flow in the delivery and enhance the emotional peak in the end to its greatest extend.
Reference：
[1] Bloor， T. & Bloor， M. 1995. The Functional Analysis of English： A Hallidayan Approach [M]. London： Edward Arnold. 81.
[2] Halliday and Matthiessen. 1997. Systemic Functional Grammar： A First Step into the Theory [M].
[3]黃灿，罗辉. 蚌埠学院学报[J].2013.6.：Vol. 2， No.3.
[4]贺欣欣. 奥巴马竞选获胜演讲稿的主位结构分析[J].2010.6.： Vol.30 No.2
[5]朱永生. 主位推进模式与语篇分析 [J]. 外语教学与研究，1996，第3期.
第一作者：刘闽莉（1990.01—），女，24岁，汉族，湖南邵阳，广西大学外国语学院2012级英语专业硕士研究生，研究方向：外国语言学及应用语言学
第二作者：孙樱（1987.12——），女，26岁，仫佬族，籍贯广西，广西大学外国语学院2012级外国语言学及应用语言学硕士研究生 ，研究方向外国语言学及应用语言学