This study has centered on only the theme-rheme structure and cohesive ties of an English short story using some analytical instruments of functional framework.
Therefore further research should be extended to cover the study on transitivity, mood, logico – semantic relation and other text types with a variety of genres such as novels, poems, fairy tales, conversations and so on of different languages. It is
also advisable to investigate the similarities and differences between Vietnamese texts and English ones using the same analytical instruments.
REFERENCES
1. Collins English Dictionary. (1990). Sinclair J. (Ed.). London: Harper Collins Publishers.
2. Butt, D., Fahey, R., Spinks, S., Yallop, C. (1995). Using Functional Grammar: An explorer’s Guide. Sydney: National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research, Macquarie University.
3. Eggins, S. (1994). Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics.Wellington:
Continuum Wellington House.
4. Halliday, M.A.K. (1994). An Introduction to Functional Grammar. Second Edition, London: Edward Arnold.
5. Halliday, M.A.K. & Hasan, R. (1985). Language, Context and Text: Aspect of Language in Social – Semiotic Perspective. Geelong, Victoria: Deakin University Press.
6. Halliday, M.A.K. & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman.
7. Halliday, M.A.K., Language as Social Semiotic: the Interpretation of Language and Learning. London: Edward Arnold.
8. Hasan, R., Coherence and Cohesive Harmony. (In) Fllod, J. (Ed). (1984).
Understanding Reading Comprehension: Cognition, Language and the Structure of Prose.
9. Đỗ Tuấn Minh (2007). Themantic Structure in Vietnamese. Unpublished PHD Thesis. Department of Post graduate studies, ULIS.
10. Nunan, D. (1993). Introducing Discourse Analysis. London: Penguin.
11. Thomson, G. (1996). Introducing Functional Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press Inc.
12. Hoàng Văn Vân (2002). Ngữ pháp kinh nghiệm của cú Tiếng Việt: Mô tả theo quan điểm chức năng hệ thống. Hanoi: NXB. KHXH.
13. Hoàng Văn Vân (2006). Introducing Discourse Analysis. Hanoi: NXB. Giáo dục.
14. Hoàng Văn Vân (2009). Về phạm trù chủ ngữ. Tạp chí Ngôn Ngữ số 8. Hanoi:
Viện ngôn ngữ học.
APPENDIX I
THE LAST LEAF
Clause and Clause Complexes
Clause number Clauses
Complex Simplex
I (1) In a little district west of Washington Square the streets have run crazy and broken themselves into small strips
(2) called “places”
II (3) These "places" make strange angles and curves III (4) One Street crosses itself a time or two
IV (5) An artist once discovered a valuable possibility in this street V
(6) Suppose a collector with a bill for paints, paper and canvas should, in traversing this route, suddenly meet himself coming back, without a cent
(7) having been paid on account!
VI
(8) So, to quaint old Greenwich Village the art people soon came prowling, hunting for north windows and eighteenth-century gables and Dutch attics and low rents
VII
(9) Then they imported some pewter mugs and a chafing dish or two from Sixth Avenue,
(10) and became a "colony."
VIII
(11) At the top of a squatty, three-story brick Sue and Johnsy had their studio
IX (12) "Johnsy" was familiar for Joanna X (13) One was from Maine;
(14) the other from California
(15) They had met at the table d'hôte of an Eighth Street
(16) and found their tastes in art, chicory salad and bishop sleeves so congenial that the joint studio resulted..
XII (17) That was in May.
XIII
(18)
In November a cold, unseen stranger, whom the doctors called Pneumonia, stalked about the colony, touching one here and there with his icy fingers.
(19) whom the doctors called Pneumonia,
XIV (20) Over on the east side this ravager strode boldly, smiting his victims by scores‟,
(21) but his feet trod slowly through the maze of the narrow and moss-grown "places."
XV
(22) Mr. Pneumonia was not
(23) what you would call a chivalric old gentleman.
XVI
(24) A mite of a little woman with blood thinned by California zephyrs was hardly fair game for the red-fisted, short-breathed old duffer.
XVII (25) But Johnsy he smote;
(26) and she lay, scarcely moving, on her painted iron bedstead, looking through the small Dutch window-panes at the blank side of the next brick house.
XVIII (27) One morning the busy doctor invited Sue into the hallway with a shaggy, gray eyebrow.
XIX
(28) "She has one chance in - let us say, ten,", (29) let us say
(30) he said
(31) as he shook down the mercury in his clinical thermometer.
XX (32) "And that chance is for her to want to live.
XXI (33) This way people have of lining-u on the side of the undertaker makes the entire pharmacopoeia look silly.
XXII (34) Your little lady has made up her mind (35) that she's not going to get well.
XXIII (36) Has she anything on her mind?"
XXIV (37) "She - she wanted to paint the Bay of Naples some day."
XXV (39) "Paint? -
XXVI (40) bosh! Has she anything on her mind worth thinking twice - a man for instance?"
XXVII (41) "A man?"
(42) said Sue, with a jew's-harp twang in her voice.
XXVIII (43) "Is a man worth
XXIX (44) but, no, doctor; there is nothing of the kind."
XXX
(45) "Well, it is the weakness, then,"
(46) said the doctor.
XXXI (47) "I will do all that science, so far as it may filter through my efforts, can accomplish
XXXII
(48) But whenever my patient begins to count the carriages in her funeral procession
(49) I subtract 50 per cent from the curative power of medicines.
XXXIII (50) If you will get her to ask one question about the new winter styles in cloak sleeves
(51) I will promise you a one-in-five chance for her, instead of one in ten."
XXXIV (52) After the doctor had gone
(53) Sue went into the workroom and cried a Japanese napkin to a pulp.
XXXV (54) Then she swaggered into Johnsy's room with her drawing board, whistling ragtime.
XXXVI (55) Johnsy lay, scarcely making a ripple under the bedclothes, with her face toward the window
XXXVII (56) Sue stopped whistling, thinking (57) she was asleep.
XXXVIII
(58) She arranged her board
(59) and began a pen-and-ink drawing to illustrate a magazine story.
XXXIX
(60) Young artists must pave their way to Art by drawing pictures for magazine stories
(61) that young authors write to pave their way to Literature.
XL
(62) As Sue was sketching a pair of elegant horseshow riding trousers and a monocle of the figure of the hero, an Idaho cowboy,
(63) she heard a low sound, several times repeated.
XLI (64) She went quickly to the bedside.
XLII
(65) Johnsy's eyes were open wide.
XLIII (66) She was looking out the window and counting - counting backward.
XLIV (67) "Twelve," she said, and little later "eleven"; and then "ten," and
"nine"; and then "eight" and "seven", almost together.
(68) she said
XLV (69) Sue look solicitously out of the window XLVI (70) What was there to count?
XLVII
(71) There was only a bare, dreary yard to be seen, and the blank side of the brick house twenty feet away.
XLVIII
(72) An old, old ivy vine, gnarled and decayed at the roots, climbed half way up the brick wall.
XLIX (73) The cold breath of autumn had stricken its leaves from the vine (74) until its skeleton branches clung, almost bare, to the crumbling
bricks.
L
(75) "What is it, dear?"
(76) asked Sue.
LI (77) "Six,"
(78) said Johnsy, in almost a whisper.
LII (79) "They're falling faster now
LIII (80) Three days ago there were almost a hundred.
LIV (81) It made my head ache to count them.
LV
(82) But now it's easy.
LVI (83) There goes another one.
LVII (84) There are only five left now."
LVIII (85) "Five what, dear?
LIX (86) Tell your Sudie."
LX (87) "Leaves.
LXI (88) On the ivy vine.
LXII
(89) When the last one falls (90) I must go, too.
LXIII
(91) I've known that for three days.
LXIV (92) Didn't the doctor tell you?"
LXV
(93) "Oh, I never heard of such nonsense,"
(94) complained Sue, with magnificent scorn.
LXVI
(95) "What have old ivy leaves to do with your getting well?
LXVII (96) And you used to love that vine so, you naughty girl.
LXVIII (97) Don't be a goosey.
LXIX
(98) Why, the doctor told me this morning
(99) that your chances for getting well real soon were LXX (100) let's see exactly what he said
LXXI
(101) he said the chances were ten to one!
LXXII
(102) Why, that's almost as good a chance as we have in New York (103) when we ride on the street cars or walk past a new building.
LXXIII (104) Try to take some broth now,
(105) and let Sudie go back to her drawing, (106) so she can sell the editor man with it,
(107) and buy port wine for her sick child, and pork chops for her greedy self."
LXXIV
(108) "You needn't get any more wine,"
(109) said Johnsy, keeping her eyes fixed out the window.
LXXV (110) "There goes another.
LXXVI (111) No, I don't want any broth.
LXXVII (112) That leaves just four.
LXXVIII
(113) I want to see the last one fall (114) before it gets dark.
LXXIX (115) Then I'll go, too."
LXXX (116) "Johnsy, dear," "will you promise me to keep your eyes closed, and not look out the window
(117) until I am done working?
(118) said Sue, bending over her,
LXXXI (119) I must hand those drawings in by to-morrow.
LXXXII (120) I need the light,
(121) or I would draw the shade down."
LXXXIII
(122) "Couldn't you draw in the other room?"
(123) asked Johnsy, coldly.
LXXXIV
(124) "I'd rather be here by you,"
(125) said Sue.
LXXXV (126) "Beside, I don't want you to keep looking at those silly ivy leaves."
LXXXVI
(127) "Tell me as soon as you have finished,"
(128) said Johnsy, closing her eyes, and lying white and still as fallen statue,
(129) "because I want to see the last one fall.
LXXXVII (130) I'm tired of waiting.
LXXXVIII (131) I'm tired of thinking.
LXXXIX (133) and go sailing down, down, just like one of those poor, tired leaves."
XC
(134) "Try to sleep,"
(135) said Sue.
XCI (136) "I must call Behrman up to be my model for the old hermit miner.
XCII (137) I'll not be gone a minute.
XCIII
138 Don't try to move 139 'til I come back."
XCIV
140 Old Behrman was a painter
141 who lived on the ground floor beneath them.
XCV 142 He was past sixty and had a Michael Angelo's Moses beard curling down from the head of a satyr along with the body of an imp.
XCVI 143 Behrman was a failure in art.
XCVII 144 Forty years he had wielded the brush without getting near enough to touch the hem of his Mistress's robe.
XCVIII
145 He had been always about to paint a masterpiece, 146 but had never yet begun it.
IC 147 For several years he had painted nothing except now and then a daub in the line of commerce or advertising.
C
148 He earned a little by serving as a model to those young artists in the colony
149 who could not pay the price of a professional.
CI 150 He drank gin to excess,
151 and still talked of his coming masterpiece.
CII
152 For the rest he was a fierce little old man, 153 who scoffed terribly at softness in any one,
154 and who regarded himself as especial mastiff-in-waiting to protect the two young artists in the studio above.
CIII 155 Sue found Behrman smelling strongly of juniper berries in his
CIV 156 In one corner was a blank canvas on an easel
157 that had been waiting there for twenty-five years to receive the first line of the masterpiece.
CV
158 She told him of Johnsy's fancy,
159 and how she feared she would, indeed, light and fragile as a leaf herself, float away,
160 when her slight hold upon the world grew weaker.
CVI 161 Old Behrman, with his red eyes plainly streaming, shouted his contempt and derision for such idiotic imaginings.
CVII 162 he cried.
CVIII 163 "Is dere people in de world mit der foolishness to die 164 because leafs dey drop off from a confounded vine?
CIX 165 I haf not heard of such a thing.
CX 166 No, I will not bose as a model for your fool hermit-dunderhead.
CXI 167 Vy do you allow dot silly pusiness to come in der brain of her?
CXII 168 Ach, dot poor leetle Miss Yohnsy."
CXIII
169 "She is very ill and weak,"
170 said Sue,
171 "and the fever has left her mind morbid and full of strange fancies.
CXIV 172 Very well, Mr. Behrman, if you do not care to pose for me, 173 you needn't.
CXV
174 But I think
175 you are a horrid old - old flibbertigibbet."
CXVI
176 "You are just like a woman!"
177 yelled Behrman.
CXVII 178 "Who said I will not bose?
CXVIII 179 Go on.
CXIX 180 I come mit you.
CXX 181 For half an hour I haf peen trying to say dot I am ready to bose.
CXXI 182 Gott! dis is not any blace in which one so goot as Miss Yohnsy shall lie sick.
CXXII
183 Some day I vill baint a masterpiece, 184 and ve shall all go away.
CXXIII 185 Johnsy was sleeping when they went upstairs.
CXXIV 186 Sue pulled the shade down to the window-sill, 187 and motioned Behrman into the other room.
CXXV 188 In there they peered out the window fearfully at the ivy vine.
CXXVI 189 Then they looked at each other for a moment without speaking.
CXXVII 190 A persistent, cold rain was falling, mingled with snow.
CXXVIII 191 Behrman, in his old blue shirt, took his seat as the hermit miner on an upturned kettle for a rock.
CXXIX
192 When Sue awoke from an hour's sleep the next morning
193 she found Johnsy with dull, wide-open eyes staring at the drawn green shade.
CXXX 194 "Pull it up;
195 I want to see,"
196 she ordered, in a whisper.
CXXXI 197 Wearily Sue obeyed.
CXXXII 198 But, lo! after the beating rain and fierce gusts of wind that had endured through the livelong night, there yet stood out against the brick wall one ivy leaf.
CXXXIII 199 It was the last one on the vine.
CXXXIV 200 Still dark green near its stem, with its serrated edges tinted with the yellow of dissolution and decay, it hung bravely from the branch some twenty feet above the ground.
CXXXV
201 "It is the last one,"
202 said Johnsy.
CXXXVI
203 "I thought
204 it would surely fall during the night.
CXXXVII 205 I heard the wind.
CXXXVIII
206 It will fall to-day,
207 and I shall die at the same time."
CXXXIX
208 said Sue, leaning her worn face down to the pillow, 209 "think of me,
210 if you won't think of yourself.
CXL 211 What would I do?"
CXLI 212 But Johnsy did not answer.
CXLII 213 The lonesomest thing in all the world is a soul when it is making ready to go on its mysterious, far journey.
CXLIII 214 The fancy seemed to possess her more strongly
215 as one by one the ties that bound her to friendship and to earth were loosed.
CXLIV
216 The day wore away,
217 and even through the twilight they could see the lone ivy leaf clinging to its stem against the wall.
CXLV
218 And then, with the coming of the night the north wind was again loosed,
219 while the rain still beat against the windows and pattered down from the low Dutch eaves.
CXLVI 220 When it was light enough
221 Johnsy, the merciless, commanded that the shade be raised.
CXLVII 222 The ivy leaf was still there.
CXLVIII 223 Johnsy lay for a long time looking at it.
CXLIX
224 And then she called to Sue,
225 who was stirring her chicken broth over the gas stove.
CL 226 "I've been a bad girl, Sudie,"
227 said Johnsy.
CLI 228 "Something has made that last leaf stay there to show me how wicked I was.
CLIII 230 You may bring me a little broth now, and some milk with a little port in it,
231 and - no; bring me a hand-mirror first, 232 and then pack some pillows about me, 233 and I will sit up and watch you cook."
CLIV 234 And hour later she said:
CLV 235 "Sudie, some day I hope to paint the Bay of Naples."
CLVI
236 The doctor came in the afternoon,
237 and Sue had an excuse to go into the hallway as he left.
CLVII
238 "Even chances,"
239 said the doctor, taking Sue's thin, shaking hand in his.
CLVIII 240 "With good nursing you'll win."
CLIX 241 And now I must see another case I have downstairs.
CLX 242 Behrman, his name is - some kind of an artist, I believe.
CLXI 243 Pneumonia, too.
CLXII 244 He is an old, weak man, 245 and the attack is acute.
CLXIII
246 There is no hope for him;
247 but he goes to the hospital to-day to be made more comfortable."
CLXIV 248 The next day the doctor said to Sue:
249 "She's out of danger.
CLXV 250 You won.
CLXVI 251 Nutrition and care now - that's all."
CLXVII
252 And that afternoon Sue came to the bed
253 where Johnsy lay, contentedly knitting a very blue and very useless woollen shoulder scarf,
254 and put one arm around her, pillows and all.
CLXVIII
255 "I have something to tell you, white mouse,"
256
CLXIX 257 "Mr. Behrman died of pneumonia to-day in the hospital.
CLXX 258 He was ill only two days.
CLXXI 259 The janitor found him the morning of the first day in his room downstairs helpless with pain.
CLXXII 260 His shoes and clothing were wet through and icy cold.
CLXXIII 261 They couldn't imagine
262 where he had been on such a dreadful night.
CLXXIV
263 And then they found a lantern, still lighted, and a ladder that had been dragged from its place, and some scattered brushes, and a palette with green and yellow colors mixed on it,
264 and - look out the window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall.
CLXXV
265 Didn't you wonder
266 why it never fluttered or moved 267 when the wind blew?
CLXXVI 268 Ah, darling, it's Behrman's masterpiece CLXXVII 269 - he painted it there the night
CLXXVIII 270 that the last leaf fell."
APPENDIX II
THE THEME – RHEME PATTERN Clause number Textual
Theme
Interpersonal Theme
Topical Theme Markedness of Theme Complex Simplex
I (1) In a little district west of
Washington Square
marked
(2) (Ellipsis)
II (3) These “places” unmarked
III (4) One street unmarked
IV (5) An artist unmarked
V
(6) Suppose A collector unmarked
(7) (Ellipsis)
VI
(8) So To quaint old
Greenwich Village
marked
VII
(9) Then They unmarked
(10) (Ellipsis)
VIII
(11) At the top of a aquatty,
three-story brick
marked
IX (12) Jonhsy unmarked
X (13) One unmarked
(14) The other unmarked
XI
(15) They unmarked
(16) (Ellipsis)
XII (17) That unmarked
XIII
(18)
In November marked
(19) whom whom unmarked
(20) Over on the east side marked
XV
(22) Mr. Pneumonia unmarked
(23) what what unmarked
XVI
(24) A mite of a little woman unmarked
XVII
(25) But Johnsy marked
(26) and She unmarked
XVIII (27) One morning marked
XIX
(28) She unmarked
(29) Let us unmarked
(30) He unmarked
(31) As he unmarked
XX (32) And That chance unmarked
XXI (33) This way unmarked
XXII (34) Your little lady unmarked
(35) that She unmarked
XXIII (36) Has She unmarked
XXIV (37) She unmarked
(38) Sue unmarked
XXV (39) (Ellipsis)
XXVI (40) has She unmarked
XXVII (41) (Ellipsis)
(42) Sue unmarked
XXVIII (43) Is A man unmarked
XXIX (44) but doctor There unmarked
XXX
(45) Well It unmarked
(46) The doctor unmarked
XXXI (47)
XXXII
(48) But, whenever
whenever marked
(49) I unmarked
XXXIII (50) If You unmarked
(51) I unmarked
XXXIV
(52) After The doctor unmarked
(53) Sue unmarked
XXXV (54) Then She unmarked
XXXVI (55) Johnsy unmarked
XXXVII (56) Sue unmarked
(57) She unmarked
XXXVIII
(58) She unmarked
(59) (Ellipsis)
XXXIX
(60) Young artists unmarked
(61) that that unmarked
XL
(62) As Sue unmarked
(63) She unmarked
XLI (64) She unmarked
XLII
(65) Johnsy‟s eyes unmarked
XLIII (66) She unmarked
XLIV (67) (Ellipsis)
(68) She unmarked
XLV (69) Sue unmarked
XLVI (70) What What unmarked
XLVII
(71) There unmarked
XLVIII
(72) An old, old ivy vine unmarked
XLIX (73) The cold breath of
autumn
unmarked (74) until Its skeleton branches unmarked L
(75) what What unmarked
(76) Sue unmarked
LI (77) (Ellipsis)
(78) Johnsy unmarked
LII (79) They unmarked
LIII (80) Three days ago marked
LIV (81) It unmarked
LV
(82) but now marked
LVI (83) There unmarked
LVII (84) There unmarked
LVIII (85) Five what unmarked
LIX (86) Tell unmarked
LX (87) (Ellipsis)
LXI (88) (Ellipsis)
LXII
(89) when The last one unmarked
(90) I unmarked
LXIII
(91) I unmarked
LXIV (92) Didn‟t The doctor unmarked
LXV
(93) Oh I unmarked
(94) Sue unmarked
LXVI
(95) What unmarked
LXVII (96) And you unmarked