49) The utterance. Informative structure of the utterance. The theme and the rheme.

The utterance as opposed to the sentence is the unit of speech. The main categories of the utterance from the point of view of its informative structure are considered to be the theme and the rheme. They are the main components of the Functional Sentence Perspective (FSP) – actual division of the sentence (most language analysts stick to the term “sentence” but actually they mean “utterance”). In English, there is a “standard” word order of Subject + Verb + Object: The cat ate the rat – here we have a standard structure (N1 + V + N2). However, there are numerous other ways in which the semantic content of the sentence can be expressed: 1. The rat was eaten by the cat. 2. It was the cat that ate the rat. 3. It was the rat that the cat ate. 4. What the cat did was ate the rat. 5. The cat, it ate the rat. Which of these options is actually selected by the writer or the speaker will depend on the context in which the utterance occurs and the importance of the information. One important consideration is whether the information has already been introduced before or it is assumed to be known to the reader or listener. Such information is referred to as given information or the theme. It contrasts with information which is introduced for the first time and which is known as new information or the rheme. Informative structure of the utterance is one of the topics that still attract the attention of language analysts nowadays. It is well recognized that the rheme marking devices are: 1. Position in the sentence. As a rule new information in English generally comes last: The cat ate the rat. 2. Intonation. 3. The use of the indefinite article. However, sometimes it is impossible (as in 1): A gentleman is waiting for you. 4. The use of ‘there is’, ‘there are’. There is a cat in the room. 5. The use of special devices, like ‘as for’, ‘but for’, etc.: As for him, I don’t know. 6. Inverted word order: Here comes the sun. 7. The use of emphatic constructions: It was the cat that ate the rat. However, sometimes the most important information is not expressed formally: The cat ate the rat after all. The rheme here is ‘the rat’. At the same time there is very important information which is hidden or implicit: the cat was not supposed to do it, or – it was hard for the cat to catch the rat, or – the cat is a vegetarian (this hidden information will depend on the context or situation). In other words, we may say that this sentence contains two informative centres, or two rhemes – explicit and implicit.

50) The utterance. Communicative and pragmatic types of utterances.

an utterance is a smallest unit of speech. It is a continuous piece of speech beginning and ending with a clear pause. In the case of oral languages, it is generally but not always bounded by silence. Utterances do not exist in written language, only their representations do. It can be represented and delineated in written language in many ways. The intentional possibilities of the speaker are formed in terms of communicative and pragmatic types of utterance. I.E. Galochkina (1985) suggests four sets of pragmatic types, each of which has a center and a peripheral part. These types are statements, commands, estimations, phatical utterances and the intermediate zone of interrogations. The core of this system is types with definite pragmatic meaning, at the edges of the system there are types with several pragmatical intentions. The conclusion drawn by the researcher is the most valuable: prosody conveys only some pragmatic meanings but the true communicative intention is formed only as a result of the correlation of different elements from different levels. The scope of our material is characterized by three pragmatic types: statements, estimations and commands. The combination of estimation and statement is the most frequent. It is practically 100% of episodes where it occurs. So estimation/statement type means that the speaker intends to express his/her attitude towards people, situation, action, event, etc. and at the same time he/she conveys some new information about the subject, which can be people, situation, action, event, etc. The way of emotional expression of the meaning varies significantly: from positive to negative (kind, joyful, sympathetic, objective, persuasive, subjective, with indignation, sarcastic, indifferent expression, etc.). Thus, the intentions of the utterances, which have been elicited, may be generally viewed as follows:

a) to tell about (objectively):

- event,

- reaction to it,

- person,

- his/her inner world,

- time context,

- opinions,

- relationships/feelings

b) to describe (subjectively):

- situation,

- person,

- people,

- surroundings/atmosphere,

- actions,

- events,

- feelings/opinions,

- different attitudes towards people, yourself, things

c) to estimate (subjectively):

- person

d) to give one's own opinion (subjectively and emotionally charged)

Prominent nonverbal elements function in all pragmatic types. In the pragmatic type of statement and estimation combination there are gestural phrases(5) which repeat, double and add something to the meaning of a speech utterance. In the pragmatic type of statement only gestures repeat what was being said verbally. In the pragmatic type of estimation only gestures add something to the verbal meaning, strengthen it, or substitute the verbal phrase with the identical meaning. There is only one case of command, where gestures repeat and add something to the verbal phrase. Thus, gestural phrases (complex of gestural movements) function in pragmatic types for certain reasons (intention of the utterance). To convey the utterance intention they work together with prosodic nuclei and form certain prosodio-nonverbal complexes.