Misanalysing Information Flow

Martin & Rose (2007: 192-3):

An outline of information flow at this level of analysis is provided in Table 6.1.

 

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The table below presents a Theme analysis that is line with SFL Theory, and presents one of several possible interpretations of the distribution of Given and New information in this portion of text. Each focus of New information, realised phonologically by tonic prominence, is highlighted as bold, and the extent of New information, coloured blue, is taken to be the element of clause structure in which focus of New appears.

Theme				Rheme
structural	interpersonal	topical
		marked	unmarked
		After about three years with the special forces		our hell began
			He	became very quiet, withdrawn
	Sometimes		he	would just press his face into his hands
and				shake uncontrollably
			I	realised
			he	was drinking too much
Instead of				resting at night
			he	would wander from window to window
			He	tried to hide his wild consuming fear
but			I	saw it
		In the early hours of the morning between two and half-past-two		I jolt awake from his rushed breathing
				Rolls this way, that side of the bed
			He	's pale, ice cold in a sweltering night — sopping wet with sweat
Eyes bewildered, but dull like the dead
And the shakes: The terrible convulsions and blood-curdling shrieks of fear and pain from the bottom of his soul
	Sometimes		he	sits motionless
	just			staring in front of him

The important foci of New overlooked by Martin & Rose are those in the marked Themes, and those that mark contrasts: resting vs wander and hide (vs saw). Many other readings are possible; for example, either or both instances of the interpersonal Theme sometimes could be realised with tonic prominence, marking them as the foci of New information.