| Abstrakt: |
Abstract: The article explores the role of word-order as an indicator of the rheme in samples of written and spoken language respectively. The assumption was that this role of word-order would be more prominent in written language, where the choice of aparticular linear arrangement may be prompted by the need to achieve the effect of end-focus. In spoken discourse the rheme is signalled by prosodic clues, namely by the placement of the intonation nucleus, irrespective of its position in the sentence, rendering word-order asecondary indicator. As aresult, the frequency of deviations from the grammatical word-order, e.g. fronting, is lower in spoken discourse. However, the analysis of word-order in spoken discourse is made difficult by irregularity and structural incompleteness. |
