THEMATIC STRUCTURE AND PARA-SYNTAX : ARABC AS A CASE STUDY / James Dickins.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 143-150) and index.

Introduction -- Signs, syntax, para-syntax, theme and rheme -- Issues in defining 'theme' -- Recursion -- Summary of arguments so far -- Traditional Arabic grammar analysis of Arabic clause structure -- Peri/Thema-Nuc/Rhema analysis of Standard Arabic -- Phrase-structural para-syntax in Arabic: beyond theme and rheme -- Phrase-structural para-syntactic notions vs. (real) semantic notions -- Distinguishing syntax from para-syntax -- Conclusions.

Thematic structure and para-syntax: Arabic as a case study presents a structural analysis of Arabic, providing an alternative to the traditional notions of theme and rheme. Taking Arabic as a case-study, this book claims that approaches to thematic structure propounded in universalist linguistic theories, of which Hallidayan systemic functional linguistics is taken as an illustrative example, are profoundly wrong. It argues that in order to produce an analysis of thematic structure and similar phenomena which is not undermined by its own theoretical presuppositions, it is necessary to remove such notions from the domain of linguistic and semiotic theory. The book initially focuses on Sudanese Arabic, because this allows for a beautifully clear exposition of general principles, before applying these principles to Modern Standard Arabic, and some other Arabic varieties. This book will be of interest to scholars in Arabic linguistics, linguistic theory, and information structure