Chapter 2

P.1 FSP in Written Communication

2.1 Communicative Dynamism. (Avelacnel)
As has been discussed in the previous chapter, Communicative
Dynamism (CD) is the division of the communicative structure of the sentence into two
areas (themerheme) or more precisely into three (theme transitional zonerheme).
The division of the sentence into three segments of structure grammatical (subject
predicatorobject), semantic (agentactionpatient) and communicative (theme
transitional zonerheme) has been a feature of the research conducted since Mathesius.
The concept of communicative dynamism is based on the fact that linguistic
communication is not a static, but a dynamic phenomenon. a property of communicatibn,
displayed in the course of the development of the information to be conveyed and
consisting in advancing this development. By the degree or amount of CD carried by a
linguistic element, the relative extent to which the element contributes to the development
of the communication is understood, to which, as it were, it 'pushes the communication
forward'. Thus, if examined in its unmarked use, the sentence He was cross could be
interpreted in regard to the degrees of CD as follows:
1. The lowest degree of CD is carried by He,
2. the highest - by cross,
3. the degree carried by was ranks between them.
Much valuable light can be thrown on the function of language in the very act of
communication by a consistent inquiry into the laws determining the distribution of
degrees of CD over linguistic elements capable of carrying them.
Elements become contextually dependent and in consequence carriers of the lowest
degrees of CD owing to the operation of the context. They assume this function
irrespective of the positions they occupy within the linear arrangement. Firbas avoids the
term 'word order' here, because words are not the only elements concerned. Strictly
speaking, contextual dependence or independence is determined by what he calls the
narrow scene, i.e. in fact the very purpose of the communication. Thus in his own
example sentence John has gone up to the window, the window may be well known from
the preceding context, but the purpose of the communication being the expression of the
direction of the movement, the window necessarily appears contextually independent.
Under the circumstances, it is as Halliday puts it non-derivable, non-recoverable from
the preceding context.
20

The fundamental concept in the theory of CD is whereby an utterance is seen as a

process of gradually unfolding meaning, each part of the utterance contributing
dynamically to the total communicative effect. It evolves the contextual interplay of the
given and the new information. In other words, the CD is defined by means of contextual
dependence which implements two types of dependence: horizontal (linear) and vertical
(cross reference) constituted by the occurrence of identical and/or closely related elements.
According to Fries (Fries 1983: 117), Firbass theory of CD refers to
characterization of various Theme-Rheme approaches, the most combining in the
literature: the communicative orientation of the utterance is seen to result from the
interplay not only of word order and intonation, but also of context dependency and
semantic function.
The element towards which a sentence or subclause is oriented conveys the
information needed to complete the development of the communication taking place within
the sentence or the subclause. It contributes most to this development and is therefore the
most dynamic element within the sentence or the subclause. Anyhow, we shouldn't forget
about the elements that do not contribute to the sentence much. Among them we
distinguish between elements conveying retrievable and irretrievable information.
Obviously those that convey irretrievable information are more contributive to the
sentence/ subclause than those with retrievable information (Firbas 2004).
To what degree an element contributes to the sentence, in terms of conveying new
information is known as the degrees of Communicative Dynamism.
For Vachek (1983: 123) the basic distribution of CD seems to be a more suitable
starting point for word order than a primary grammatical sentence pattern. The concept of
FSP and CD can also be manipulated within the framework of discourse analysis. Dane
showed that topics of successive sentences can be identified in relation to what Danes
called a "hypertheme," in effect a discourse topic, which may or may not be explicitly
stated in the text. The discourse topic is what the text, taken as a whole, is about. He
(1974: 106) confirms that the relevance of the functional sentence perspective of the
organization of discourse (or text) is beyond doubt. He also maintains that FSP is
concerned with the organization of the sentence as a message: with how the grammatical
and semantic structures function in the very act of communication. (ibid.)
This theory refers to the analysis of utterances in terms of the information they
contain and the role each utterance part being evaluated for its semantic contribution to the
whole.
21

According to Firbas (Firbas 1974: 12) a sentence contains a point of departure an

initial notion and a goal of discourse. Consequently, the movement from the initial notion
to the goal of discourse reveals the movement of the mind itself. Therefore, the point of
departure is equally present to both the speaker and the hearer. The goal of discourse
presents the very information to be imparted to the hearer.
2.2 FSP in Written Communication
The degrees of communicative dynamism differ dependent upon a part of speech
exerting this dynamics.
Articles, for example, can, without a doubt, be counted to means of FSP. The
question is, to what extent are they capable of making an element thematic or rhematic
this is how Firbas (1966) put the question. Viewed from another perspective as it
examined Dukova (1985) - in what hierarchy they stand to other means of FSP. The last
aspect matters above all if definiteness operates against FSP.
In general we can say that the definite and indefinite articles are, with respect to
their semantics, predetermined to express theme and rheme, respectively. This is especially
true about the definite article in anaphoric use and non-generic indefinite noun phrase. But
it is not their permanent quality, and a deeper inquiry into this problem reveals that it is not
as simple as it seems.
The indefinite article in FSP. The indefinite article can be understood as a simple signal
of rhematicity but only under certain conditions. Dukovas (1985: 62) results of the
inquiry into non-generic indefiniteness includes the following common occurrences of the
indefinite article in rhematic position: first mention, the so called referential non
identity (the noun is repeated with new modificating elements), post-verbal elements such
as objects, complements, and adverbials. Nevertheless, the rhematic subject with indefinite
is also possible. Follwoing Firbass (1966: 243) non-thematic subjects and formulations of
the basic conditions under which a noun or noun phrase in subject position may become
rhematic (the noun in the NP is irretrievable = context independent and the verb conveys
the meaning of appearance on the scene), we analysed this concept in the examples
below:
e.g. (1) A momentary resentment rose in Poirot at this off-hand coupling of
names. (One, Two, Buckle My Shoe: 19)

22

(2) A taxi had just drawn up before the house and a foot was protruding
from it. (One, Two, Buckle My Shoe: 28)
(3) A faint smile came to Poirot's lips. (One, Two, Buckle My Shoe: 29)
All the verbs rose, had drawn up, was protruding and came represent verbs
expressing appearance on the scene. Their semantic content implies a kind of existence or
coming into existence, hence the addressees attention is logically drawn to the
phenomenon presented on the scene (expressed by the subject) rather than to the verb, and
the subject carries a higher degree of CD. It typically occurs with indefinite noun phrase.
The zero article with plural nouns is considered to be a counterpart of the indefinite
article and in relation to FSP behaves in the same way. In his paper on non-thematic
subjects in English, Firbas sums up the basic function of the indefinite article:
The non-generic, but not the generic, indefinite article
always

marks

its

substantive

as

contextually

independent, i. e. as conveying new, unknown

information; under favourable conditions, in cooperation with other FSP means, it may even mark it
out as the rheme of the sentence.
(Firbas 1966: 245)
The definite article in FSP. One aspect of the semantic content of the definite article familiarity - is of great importance in FSP, since the criterion of known and unknown
information plays here an important part (context dependence is one of the FSP factors). It
is evident that the definite article cannot by itself render its substantive more dynamic
(Firbas 1966: 247).
e.g (4) The old gentleman died; his will was read, and like almost every
other will, gave as much disappointment as pleasure. (Sense and
Sensibility: 2)
Compared with examples with indefinite article we must interpret the subject the
old gentleman in (4) as theme. Even if Firbas (Firbas 1966: 246) adds that raising of CD
can be - in the presence of the - achieved by other means.

23

e.g. (5) The novel Sense and Sensibility grew from an early sketch entitled
Elinor and Marianne.
Here the sentence is perspectived towards the NP the novel Sense and Sensibility.
So example (5) demonstrates that the is not prevent from being rhematic. It is only in the
case when it marks its noun as theme.
Coming back to the anaphoric use (which is a context related sub-type of
familiarity), anaphoric definites are mostly thematic (Dukova 1985: 66) - it logically
follows from the essence of anaphoric reference: the referent must be mentioned in the
previous context and thus context dependent, which prevents it from being rhematic.
Although from Dukovas (1985: 66) findings follows, quite surprisingly, that an anaphoric
definite article in thematic NP is not as often as would be probably expected because it has
a strong competitor in more common anaphoric devices like demonstrative and personal
pronouns.
In conclusion Dukova summarizes: The types of definiteness relevant from the
FSP point of view mostly operate in the same direction as the other means of FSP in that
anaphoric devices are mostly found in the subject, non-generic indefinite determiners with
post-verbal sentence parts. (Dukova 1985: 70)
Personal and demonstrative pronouns in FSP. The problem of pronouns in FSP is
not that subtle as is the case with the definite and indefinite articles, as pronouns are almost
always the theme in the sentence - they don't convey new meaning, i.e. the information
delivered in them is retrievable. Henceforth, we may conclude that for such instances there
should be a context.
e.g. (6)

Mrs Dashwood was sorry for what she had said; but it gave Elinor
pleasure, as it produced a reply from Marianne so expressive of
confidence in Willoughby and knowledge of his intentions.
One morning, about a week after his leaving the country, Marianne
was prevailed on to join her sisters in their usual walk, instead of
wandering away by herself. Hitherto she had carefully avoided every
companion in her rambles. (Sense and Sensibility: 83)

As stated above, the degree of CD in pronouns is thus very low, as it anaphorically

almost restates the previous information.
24

FSP of the noun phrase. Finally, we would like to add a brief comment on functional
perspective of the noun phrase, as was elaborated by Ale Svoboda in Functional Sentence
Perspective of the Noun Phrase (1987). Following Firbass (1992: 17) conception of a
sentence as a distributional field which may consist of subfields, Svoboda (1987)
concentrates on the noun phrase (NP) as an information field (or subfield) within which the
elements of FSP are distributed. The basic NP usually serves as an introduction of a
phenomenon into the discourse, which is called the presentation on the scene (Pr).
Svoboda applies the same patterns (semantic role of elements and their function in FSP) on
the analysis of the NP (cf. Svoboda 1987: 64):
e.g. (7) The man and one of the maids were sent off immediately into
Devonshire to prepare the house for their mistress's arrival... (Sense
and Sensibility: 24)
The man functions as one unit in the sentence. It may be further divided into
separate communicative units as well:
ThPr.. the article the
TrPr . number and case signals (singular and common case)
RhPr . the notional content of man
The headword, if context-independent, is rhematic, the article (or rather the
determiner) performs the Set-function and is thematic. By complex NPs the analysis can be
extended to the Quality Scale including the bearer of quality (headword), quality,
specification and further specification (attributives), which then function as transitional or
rhematic elements. In the same example, (7), we face up this phenomenon as well:
e.g. (7) The man and one of the maids were sent off immediately into
Devonshire to prepare the house for their mistress's arrival... (Sense
and Sensibility: 24)
H .... the noun maids
Sp and FrSp .... the of-structure one of the
ThPr.. the article the
TrPr . number and case signals (plural and objective case)
RhPr . the notional content of maid
25

The classification of articles, within a NP, always performs the semantic role of
delimiting the scene (Set) and functions as theme proper: the scene is often represented by
the definite and indefinite article, signaling the presence or the absence of a tie with a
given verbal, situational or experiential context at the very moment of communication, and
therefore locating the presented phenomenon in a most general way. (Svoboda 1987:
63)
2.3 FSP in Spoken Communication (avelacnel)
We have so far not said anything about the relationship between the spoken and the
written language. Of course it is not surprising that in dealing with intonation, we are
mainly concerned with the speaker.
Intonation as the Expression of Information Structure: Halliday

claims

that

information structure, in English, is expressed by intonation. We will discuss this proposal

in detail in the following.
First it has to be stated that in many communicative studies and research on FSP
intonation has been either totally neglected, or often been treated as an optional addition of
emotional elements. A notable exception to this statement is Danes, who writes:
...

In

English

it

is

rather

the

suprasegmental

phonological structure that signals the functional

perspective of utterances i.e. the points of the highest
communicative dynamism.
(Danes 1972: 227)
In English, the fixed word order is compensated for by a highly variable intonation
centre. In the following, we shall consider intonation as a complex of prosodic features,
not restricted to pitch contrast alone.
Let us consider the treatment of intonation as the expression of

information

structure in the University Grammar of English, which in many respects is based on

Hallidayan theory. According to this grammar (Quirk/Greenbaum 1973), intonation is
organized in tone units. The centre of the tone unit is called the nucleus, which is defined
as the peak of greatest prominence (ibid: 454). It is stated that pitch prominence is
normally associated with pitch change, and that the commonest change is a fall. According
to the grammar, the nucleus signals the focus of information, which indicates where new
26

information lies. The grammar argues for a neutral position of focus, which is called endfocus and is said to consist of chief prominence on the last open-class item or proper noun
in the clause. The tone unit represents a unit of information. The signaling of new
information, by means of the focus is, however, not unambiguous in the case of neutral
position of focus. This is demonstrated (Quirk/Greenbaum 1973: 408) with the help of
example (8) where the nucleus is symbolized by capitals and the extent of the new
information by italics. Depending on context, the signal of focus is ambiguous: in (8a) the
extent or scope of the new information concerns the entire clause, in (8b) only the object,
and in (8c) only the last element. The same point is made by Halliday (1970b: 41).
e.g. (8a) I love to be reminded of the PAST... (Sense and Sensibility: 90)
(8b) (What do I love to be reminded of ?) I love to be reminded of the PAST.
(8c) (What do I love to do ?) I love to be reminded of the PAST
If there is no context, the whole sentence can be new, as in (8a). In (8c), with
identical intonation, i. e. nucleus on the last open-class item, only Germany is new.
Halliday adds, however, that if the tonic, or nucleus, is not "in its neutral place", then only
the item carrying the nucleus is new.
In the preceding examples, the nucleus, signaling information focus, was on the
last open-class item of the sentence. However, the nucleus can also be placed on other
items in the sentence. In his article on transitivity and theme in English, Halliday (1968,
204) distinguishes marked and unmarked "information focus". In (a) focus is unmarked,
while in the rest focus is said to be marked.
e.g. (9a) "Mrs Palmer appeared quite WELL, and I'm commissioned to tell
you that you will certainly SEE her tomorrow".
(9b) "Mrs Palmer appeared quite well, and I'M commissioned to tell you
that you will certainly see her tomorrow".
(9c) "Mrs Palmer appeared quite well, and I'm COMMISIONED to tell
you that you will certainly SEE her tomorrow".
(9d) "Mrs Palmer appeared quite well, and I'm commissioned to TELL
you that you will certainly see her tomorrow".
(9e) "Mrs Palmer appeared quite well, and I'm commissioned to tell
YOU that you will certainly see her tomorrow".

27

(9f) "Mrs Palmer appeared quite well, and I'm commissioned to tell you
that you WILL certainly see her tomorrow".
(9g) "Mrs Palmer appeared quite well, and I'm commissioned to tell you
that you will CERTAINLY see her tomorrow".
(9h) "Mrs Palmer appeared quite well, and I'm commissioned to tell you
that you will certainly see her TOMORROW".
The choice between marked or unmarked is clearly up to the speaker. The
importance of the speaker's choice is unmistakeably expressed in Halliday's later
publications:
... Each tone group represents what the speaker decides
to make into one unit of information... The information
unit consists of an obligatory new element... and an
optional given element; the main stress (tonic nucleus)
marks the end of the new element.
(Halliday 1970a: 162 f.)
and also in the following quotation:
Within each information unit, one part is selected as
prominent; this is the tonic ... The function of the tonic
is to form the focus of information... The information
which the speaker decides is to form the focus of the
message we may call new.
(Halliday 1970b, 40)
This brings us to the question of whether there is such a thing as unmarked
information focus, or normal intonation. The University Grammar of English speaks of a
neutral position of focus. This corresponds to Halliday's unmarked information focus or
neutral place for the tonic which he defines in the following way: "... it is located so that it
begins on the (accented syllable of the) last content word in the tone group. This is what is
called neutral tonicity." (Halliday 1970b: 41)
This is illustrated with an example (10).
28

(10) Elinor saw, with concern, the excess of her sister's sensiBILITY...
(Sense and Sensibility: 5)
As already mentioned, Halliday (1970b: 41) also states explicitly that if the tonic,
or nucleus, is elsewhere, then only the item which carries the nucleus is new. He further
points out that questions concerning items other than the last content item shift the tonic, as
in (10a) and (10b):
(10a) (Whose sensibility...?) ... Her SISter's sensibility ...
(10b) (Whose sister's ...?) HER sister's...
Halliday's examples demonstrate the importance of the influence of context on
intonation. It follows therefore that there cannot be a context-free, normal intonation. The
doubtful status of the notion of normal intonation or neutral tonicity is further supported by
Bolinger and Schmerling who argue against the notion of normal stress or predictable
accent. Schmerling (1974: 70) points out that normal stress is nothing but "stress used in
citations".
Bolinger draws attention to the fact that the nucleus does not necessarily fall on the
last open-class item in a sentence, but that semantic considerations and speaker's intentions
play an important role. This can be demonstrated with the following examples:
e.g. (11a) Her letter was SCARCELY finished. (Sense and Sensibility: 166)
(11b) Her letter was scarcely COMPLETED.
According to Bolinger, the information focus in (11b) is on the operation rather
than on the quality, as in (11a). In the former, a semantically poorer word is chosen as the
verb. Bolinger (1972b: 634) stresses the important fact that choice of intonation is tied up
with the choice of lexical item and "... the choice of the semantically richer verb is part of
the decision".
The speaker and his communicative means. It is a difficult task to state what is
normal intonation. Intonation clearly depends on the intention of the speaker, and it is
impossible to predict which pattern will be chosen unless you are a mind-reader. Let us

29

show how the speaker may use them for the expression of his communicative intentions.
We shall single out some features of intonation only.
Pause can be used to express different meanings as in the following two pairs of
sentences.
e.g. (12a) They had not remained in this manner long/ before Elinor
perceived Willoughby.... (Sense and Sensibility: 169)
(12b) They had not remained in this manner long before/ Elinor
perceived Willoughby....
The function of the pause here is to split up the sentences into different tone groups,
i . e. information units. The presence or absence of pauses in a sentence also depends on
speech tempo. If the sentence is spoken quickly, there may be no pauses and only a single
nucleus. If the tempo is slowed down, optional pauses may be inserted, and the intonation
contour is changed. Tempo is clearly a factor determined by the speaker.
Another variable in intonation is tone, also called pitch change, or pitch contour.
A stock example for the influence of intonation on the meaning of a sentence is the
distinction between statements and questions as in the following sentences.
e.g. (13a) HE listened to her with silent ATTENTION. (statement) - falling
(Sense and Sensibility: 168)
(13b) He listened to her with silent ATTENTION? (question) - rising
A combination of different tone and different placement of nucleus can be seen in
the following example.
e.g. (14a) But have you not RECEIVED my notes? - falling
(14b) But have you not received my NOTES? - rising
(Sense and Sensibility: 170)
As this example shows, the position of the nucleus, or tonic prominence, also often
called stress, directly influences the meaning of the utterance. Two further examples, with
identical tone, i. e. pitch change, further illustrate this point.

30

e.g. (15a) "I only wish," replied her sister. (It's only me who wishes) falling (Sense and Sensibility: 178)
(15b) "I only WISH," replied her sister. (I do nothing but wish) falling
We shall now briefly consider intonation and context and its influence on the
speaker's choice. As mentioned before, Schmerling (1971) argues against the notion of
normal stress, claiming that the following type of sentence (16) does not have a single
normal stress pattern as would be predicted by Chomsky and Halle's Nuclear Stress Rule.
e.g. (16 ) Poirot stood stock still. (One, Two, Buckle My Shoe: 299)
Schmerling points out that the stressing depends on possible preceding questions,
an observation which was also made by Halliday.
Schmerling argues that in (16a) and (16b), for example, the italicized portion of the
sentences is asserted and therefore receives heavy stress. The rest of the sentences bears
reduced stress. She arrives at the following general conclusion: "Those portions of
sentences receive reduced stress which contain material presupposed by the speaker to be
true and to be known to the addressee(s)." (Schmerling 1971: 249)
e.g. (16a) (Who stood stock still?)
Poirot stood stock still.
(16b) (How did Poirot stand?)
Poirot stood stock still.
Blinger's (1972b) position is the opposite and at the same time the complementary
one. As mentioned before, he claims that accented words are points of information focus,
therefore arguing against syntactically and morphologically determined sentence accents.
He makes a clear terminological distinction between stress- which to him belongs to the
lexicon - and accent - which belongs to the utterance. He, in his turn, arrives at the
following conclusion: "The distribution of sentence accents is not determined by syntactic
structure, but by semantic and emotional highlighting." (Bolinger 1972b, 644)
Accent is thus clearly determined by the speaker's intentions and not by any general
morphological, syntactic, or intonational rule.
31

If we now compare Blinger's and Schmerling's positions on the question of normal

stress or accent, it is evident that they each have a different perspective, but that both
authors argue for the ultimate relevance of the speaker's intention and decision. Schmerling
concentrates on the destressing of presupposed, i. e. given, information while Bolinger
argues for the accenting of information focus, i.e. semantically or emotionally more
important information. The two stand-points are compatible and complementary.
We shall now return to our starting-point, the communicative function of sentences,
and FSP as the distribution of various degrees of communicative dynamism over the
elements of the sentence. Summing up, we can say now that the communicative function of
sentences in spoken language is expressed by both word order and intonation. Word order
is responsible for what Firbas calls the basic distribution of CD, Halliday "thematic
structures", and Danes "the usual order of topic-comment", or "inverse order".
Referring back to previous cases, example (8) is a sample of usual order or
neutral position of the focus:
e.g. (8) I love to be reminded of (theme/topic) the PAST (rheme/comment)...
(Sense and Sensibility: 90)
The examples discussed in the subtitle The indefinite article and the FSP needs to
be pointed to here in terms of the reverse order of theme/rheme; the use of non-generic
indefinite article at the beginning is a marker of the new in the information chain. The
usual theme/rheme order is transformed into rheme/theme:
e.g. (1) A momentary resentment (rheme) rose in Poirot at this off-hand coupling
of names (theme). (One, Two, Buckle My Shoe: 19)
(2) A taxi (rheme) had just drawn up before the house and a foot was
protruding from it (theme). (One, Two, Buckle My Shoe: 28)
(3) A faint smile (rheme) came to Poirot's lips (theme). (One, Two, Buckle
My Shoe: 29)
Danes (1972: 225) points out that one of the functions of intonation is "simply to
signal the Topic - Comment structure of utterance" and that the written language, as
opposed to the spoken language, has no such device. This statement is, anyhow,
ambiguous.
32

In English, there are certain specific constructions which provide a means of

bringing certain elements into focus, signaled by the nucleus, thereby giving them
prominence. Such elements would then contain an extremely high degree of
communicative dynamism. The constructions, of course, exist both in the spoken and the
written language. They do not assign focus but afford a specific possibility for signaling it
in the spoken medium. Let us look briefly at two such constructions, the passive and the
pseudo-cleft sentence.
e.g. (17) Mrs Smith had somehow or other been informed, I imagine, by
some instant relation. (Sense and Sensibility: 314)
(18) Her mind was so much occupied by the important secret in her
possession (Sense and Sensibility: 283)
In (17) and (18) we have neutral tonicity or unmarked focus. Passive in English is
"a means of bringing the element governed by by into prominence as the focus of
information" (Halliday 1970a, 153). However, the speaker is basically free in his choice of
the placement of the nucleus. In many cases, he could also decide on leaving the element
governed by by out altogether. This is also one of the functions of the passive in English.
Let us now consider the pseudo-cleft sentence, such as (19).
e.g. (19) To wish was to hope, and to hope was to expect ...
(Sense and Sensibility: 19)
It should be obvious that the nucleus is not necessarily assigned to the element
which is accented in the example. It follows that the nucleus in both passive and pseudocleft sentences is basically variable.
We believe, however, that there is one construction in English which can be
regarded as a substitute for intonation in written language. This is the cleft (key) sentence.
We shall use an example from the University Grammar of English to illustrate this point.
e.g. (20) This speech at first puzzled Mrs Jennings exceedingly.
(Sense and Sensibility: 278)

33

Example (20) can be converted into a number of cleft sentences. Various elements
can be made the theme, as is illustrated in the following examples, where the theme is
italicized:
e.g. (20a) It was THIS SPEECH /that at fist puzzled Mrs Jennings
exceedingly.
(20b) It was AT FIRST /that this speech puzzled Mrs Jennings
exceedingly.
(20c) It was TO PUZZLE/that this speech at first did to Mrs Jennings
exceedingly.
(20d) It was MRS JENNINGS/ that this speech at first puzzled
exceedingly.
(20e) It was EXCEEDINGLY/that this speech at first puzzled Mrs
Jennings.
fixed focus /nucleus variable (= theme)
As is indicated by the capitals, the theme, in the first part of the cleft sentence,
always receives the nucleus in the spoken language. The construction provides a fixed
focus, which in the spoken medium invariably becomes a fixed nucleus.
The two parts of the cleft sentence construction represent two information units,
which are realized in the spoken language as two distinct tone groups at least. The nucleus
in the second part of the cleft sentence is basically variable. There is more than one nucleus
if this part of the cleft sentence is split up into more than one tone group.
According to the University Grammar of English, the cleft sentence construction
gives both thematic and focal prominence to a particular element of the clause. (Quirk
/Greenbaum 1973: 414). This is true only for the spoken language. The information focus
is regarded as being signaled by the nucleus of intonation. However, since the sentence is
always broken up into two units, the theme becomes prominent also in the written
language, and the construction can therefore be regarded as a substitute for intonation in
the written language.

34