In Comprehending and Interpreting Oral Messages

Semantics of oral discourse has also to do with the notions of the theme and the rheme. The theme is treated as the “subject” (the “known” part) of the message while the rheme describes “what happens to the theme” and thus ensures that “new information” is constantly being “fed” into the discourse. Any word (phrase) in the utterance may make up either the theme or the rheme. Usually the thematic or rhematic nature of words (phrases) is determined by the word order, definite or indefinite articles, adjectives or intonation: A girl (rheme) waved at us (theme) asking for a lift. The girl (theme) was rather pretty (rheme), so our driver agreed. Normally rhematic elements are placed at the end of utterances, however if they occupy unusual front position as a result of the speaker's desire to make greater emphasis upon them, they may become a serious problem for simultaneous interpreters who will have to wait untill the utterance is completed before they may start interpreting it. This often happens in the consecutive and simultaneous interpreting from Ukrainian and Russian into English: Другим після цього закону у нас був прийнятий Трудовий кодекс; Автобазу має він свою, проте не дають йому роботи.

Practice shows that having understood the theme of the message, the interpreter starts to look for the new, rhematic information in the message, which has to do with processes, actions and their evaluation as well as for the information about intents of the speaker. It being so, the rhematic part of the utterance, which is also called the “informational focus”, becomes essential for interpreting.

Perception of the rhematic components of messages allows the interpreter to understand the meaning of the messages as well as their modality and evaluation of facts and events by the speaker. Failure to do this leads to serious mistakes and distortions in interpreting.