The Application of Thematic Progression on Scientific and Technical Texts

孫婷婷

Abstract：This study aims to explore the question： How does the thematic progression patterns imply the scientific and technical texts？ The findings of this study contribute to the general understanding of the semantic coherence and logical relations of scientific and technical texts.

Key words： thematic progression patterns； scientific and technical texts

1 Introduction

This study aims to explore the structural features of scientific texts on the basis of the thematic progression patterns. The thematic progression pattern refers to the relationship between the theme and rheme. Thus the thematic progression patterns are of significance to study the way how a scientific text unfolds.

2 The Application of Thematic Progression Patterns in Scientific and Technical Texts

2.1 Constant Theme Pattern

The feature of this pattern is that the theme of the previous clause appears repeatly in the following clauses as the themes.

Example： Major companies are already in pursuit of commercial applications of the new biology. They dream of placing enzymes in automobile to monitor exhaust and send data on pollution to a microprocessor that will then adjust the engine.

In the theme of the first clause， “major companies” has been mentioned. And the theme of the following clause shares the same theme.

2.2 Simple Linear Pattern

The characteristic of this model is that the rheme of a clause becomes the theme of the following clause.

Wild as these notions may sound， every one has its advocates （and opposers） in the scientific community as well as its striking commercial applicatio. As two critics of genetic engineering， Jeremy Rifkin and Ted Howard， state in their book “Who Should Play God？”， “Broad scale genetic engineering will probably be introduced to America much the same way as assembly lines， automobiles， vaccines， computers and all the other technologies.

As we can see， the theme “two critics of genetic engineering” is in the nature of the rheme “opposers”. Likewise， the theme “new genetic advance” stems from the rheme “much the same way ，…technologies”. The development of the theme is based on the previous rheme in a hierarchical arrangement.

2.3 Constant Rheme Pattern

The characteristic of this pattern is that the rheme of the precious clause appears repeatedly in the following clauses as the rhemes.

Example： Vegetable oil has been known from antiquity. No household can get on without it， for it is used in cooking. Perfumes may be made from the oils of certain flowers.

In the example above， the theme of the first clause is the rheme of the second clause， but the theme of the second clause is in accord with those in the third clause. This kind of pattern is neat and regular.

2.4 Split Rheme Pattern

The characteristic of this model is that the theme of the previous clause is the rheme of the following clause.

Example：Heart failure in the aged may result from any condition which interferes with the coronary blood flow， increase the work of the myocardium， or impairs myocardial function. Aged-specific rates demonstrate a remarkable increase in congestive heart failure.

In this pattern， the theme “heart failure” becomes the rheme of the subsequent clauses. That is to say， the rheme of the latter clause is derived from the former theme.

3 Conclusion

To sum up， thematic progression patterns serve as a structural cohesive mechanism， which are widely applied in scientific and technical texts and are conducive to a smooth information flow. Thematic progression patterns help to understand the cohesion and coherence of texts.

Bibliography：

[1]Baker， M. In Other Words： A Course Book on Translation. Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Pross， 2000.

[2]Danes，F.（ed.）1974， Papers on Functional Sentence Perspective， Prague： Academia.

（作者單位：西南科技大學外國語學院）