Thematic parentheticals and discourse competence

Abstract

We define TPs as any parenthetical element which occurs immediately after an element of the Theme and is anchored by that element. TPs are thus taken to be part of an "extended multiple theme" (underlined) (Gómez González, 1998, 2001: 329ff.). In (1), for instance, the textual Theme (alternatively) is followed by a marked circumstantial Theme, at the older age, which anchors the TP, 33 months, and then establishes a circumstantial framework for introducing the topìcal Theme, the children. In (2), in contrast, the initial circumstantial element, by the early 1970s, provides a temporal setting for the whole sentence, while the textual TP, however, relates the whole sentence to the preceding discourse by signalling a contrast and prepares the discourse for the introduction of the topical Theme, this attitude.