Misrepresenting Halliday On New Information

Martin & Rose (2007: 192):

For Halliday there are two overlapping waves involved: a thematic wave with a crest at the beginning of the clause, and a news wave with a crest at the end (where the main pitch movement would be if the clause were read aloud). In this phase, participant identification links the unmarked Themes together, and patterns of negative appraisal link up choices for New. Recurrent choices for Theme and related choices for New work together to package discourse as phases of information.

Blogger Comments:

This is misleading, because it is untrue. For Halliday, a Theme is a peak of prominence at the beginning of a clause, whereas the focus of New information is a peak of prominence at either the beginning or end of an information unit. An information unit may be co-extensive with a clause, or extend over part of a clause or extend beyond a single clause. In short, the focus of New information can occur anywhere, or nowhere, in a clause.