7.2. The Role of the Rhematic Components

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.

7.3. Rendering “evaluative component” of messages in interpreting

Evaluative components may play different roles in the semantic structure of utterances. If they are parts of the theme they may often be redundant and omitted in interpreting: The immense advances in science and technology open up great opportunities for the rapid development of our human and material resources – [...] досягнення у галузі науки та техніки забезпечують нам сьогодні можливість швидко розвивати людські та матеріальні ресурси. Omission of the evaluative adjective величезні in interpreting does not damage the sense of the utterance and its communicative effect.

However, if the evaluative component is placed in the rheme of the utterance, it becomes a part of the “informational focus” and its omission may result in distortions in interpretation: We have always attached considerable importance to the development of self–government – Mu завжди приділяли значну увагу розвитку самоврядування. Omission of the evaluative adjectives значну, велику would have resulted in a certain loss of the sense – evaluation, in this particular case.

In terms of semantic structure evaluative phrases may be classified into:

1. Phrases in which the evaluative component is included in the attribute and the antecedent (антецедент) either contains weak evaluation or no evaluation at all:

ATTRIBUTE: evaluation positive	ATTRIBUTE: evaluation negative
meaningful concept	difficult assignment
reliable means	adverse effect
priority measures	tragic results
successful outcome	explosive situation

Phrases in which the evaluative component is included in the antecedent and the attribute is rather an intensifier of quality the meaning of which is equal to the generic adverb “very”:

ANTECEDENT: evaluation positive	ANTECEDENT: evaluation negative
positive assurance	significant deterioration
meaningful co–operation	fruitless expenditures
clear guidelines	tremendous waste
durable peace	deep regret

Omission of the evaluative attribute in rendering phrases of the first type will result in considerable loss of meaning, however, the evaluative attribute may be easily omitted in translating phrases of the second type where evaluation is “embedded” in the antecedent.