AnAnalysisofThemesandThematicProgressionPatternsinEnglishLyricsWithLoveSubject

Abstract：This thesis attempts to analyze the choice of themes as well as thematic progression pattern in English lyrics with love subjects and figure out how do these choices achieve a sense of coherence.

Key Words：Themes；Thematic Progression Pattern；Coherence

1 Introduction

As a special type of poem，lyrics have an independent value in discourse analysis.They process the features of both spoken discourses and written texts since they are written to sing.The attempts on the study of English lyrics are of great importance.Firstly，the analysis on themes and thematic progression patterns in English lyrics can help English learners especially those who want to learn English through singing English songs have a better understanding on the structure and expressions of lyrics.Secondly，through analyzing thematic progression patterns，the way in which English lyrics move smoothly and achieve a sense of coherence can be figured out.Thirdly，it is also helpful for extending the application of themes as well as thematic progression pattern.

2 Themes

The system of Theme sets up a local environment providing a point of departure；what is presented in this environment is the Rheme.The clause as a message is thus a configuration of two thematic statuses，Theme+Rheme.Based on Bloor & Bloor （2001：75），themes are divided into simple themes which consist of declarative and non-declarative themes and multiple themes.In this paper，the realization of simple declarative themes are divided into nominal groups，deixis and clause.In terms of multiple themes，they are analyzed from the perspective of metafunction，namely textual，interpersonal and experiential function in the text.

In most lyrics of English love songs，simple themes overwhelm multiple themes.And in virtue of simple themes，dexis takes the largest proportion，especially pronouns.Take the following for example：

You are on the phone with your girlfriend.She is upset.She is going off about something that you said.She doesnt get your humor like I do.I am in the room.It is a typical Tuesday night.I am listening to the kind of music she doesnt like.And she will never know your story like I do...

This pieces of lyrics is abstracted from the English love song“You Belong With Me”，which is one of the most popular songs of Taylor Swift.This love song expresses the feelings of a woman who has been fallen in love with a man secretly.However，the man has already had a girlfriend though they do not match each other well in the womans eye.From the abstract it can be found that the starting part or the theme of most sentences are first，second and third pronouns.Even in the multiple themes，the experiential themes are pronouns，too.In this text，the lyric author uses the pronoun“I”to not only express her feelings directly but also make a contrast with the pronoun“her”.The reason is that the author think“you and she do not match each other and you belong with me”.The choice of pronouns successfully close the distance among the author，the singer and the audience and arose an atmosphere by which everyone who has similar experiences can be touched.

Another example is the following text：

You are one in a million.You are once in a life.You made me discover one of the stars above me.I have been looking for that special one.And I have been searching for someone to give me love...You are the one for me.

This text is the lyric of an English love song“One In A Million”，which has been titled as“The Best Theme Song Of The Year”and has been spread all over the world.This love song expresses the feelings of a man who is searching for his beloved one.In this pieces of lyrics，the author uses“I”to describe his current situation that is “keep searching for the special one”and uses“you”to refer the one he is searching for.The constant use of the pronoun“you”not only gives the information that you are so special and so important to me but also makes the audience who is the receiver of the information has a feeling that he or she is exactly the one that the singer is searching for.Through these choice of themes，the author has managed to close the distance with the audience as well as pass his or her own feelings.Besides，the emphasis the relationship between“you”and“I”also corresponds to the subject of love.

While in virtue of multiple themes，the number is comparatively small.This might due to the reason that lyrics as a special format of text focus more on rhythm for which simple themes especially through the realization of nominal groups and deixis are much more suitable.In addition，among multiple themes，textual themes and experiential themes always occur together，and the omitting of interpersonal themes increase the subjectivity of the text which is also a distinctive feature of lyrics.Moreover，the reason for all experiential themes are pronouns is the same as that for choosing pronouns as simple themes.

3 Thematic Progression Patterns

Since Danes（1974）poses the three basic types of thematic progression patterns，namely simple theme pattern，linear theme pattern and derived theme pattern，many linguists and scholars，both at home and abroad，have posed their versions.This paper carries out the four basic patterns proposed by Bloor & Bloor（2001：90）which are the constant theme pattern，the linear theme pattern，the split rheme pattern and derived themes.

The linear theme pattern is the dominant thematic progression pattern in most texts of love lyrics because it can not only create a beauty in sound but also move the texts smoothly with an extension.According to Huang Guowen（1988），in linear thematic progression pattern，the first rheme or part of the rheme is the theme of next clause，which brings out a new rheme，and this rheme continues to be the theme of the following clause.In love lyrics，this progression pattern is used to move the passage through extending the rheme，and with such extension，the viewpoint of involved person is naturally changed.Therefore，the mutual feelings for lovers are well expressed.Moreover，linear theme pattern can also create a sense of beauty especially the beauty in sound through either literal or semantic repetition.For example：

There you were and I was gone.I always will remember how I felt that day.A feeling（is）indescribable to me，yeah.I always knew there was an answer to my paper.And you are the one for me.

This piece of text is abstracted from“On In A Million”.There are five sentences in this example.The rheme in the first sentence is“you were and I was gone”and the theme of the second sentence is“I”which is obviously the same as part of the former rheme.The rheme in the second sentence is“always remember how I felt that day”which corresponds to the theme of the third sentence“A feeling”.Moreover，the rheme of the last but one sentence is“always knew there was an answer to my paper”while in the last sentence the theme is“you”which semantically means“the answer to the paper”.In this way，the content of the text smoothly moved from a couple were gone to they are meant to be together.Through this linear theme pattern，the author naturally changes his point of view and develops the subject of love.

Though constant thematic progression pattern is also of great importance due to the subject of the texts is love which belongs to affection expression，that is，they mainly express some kind of feelings，either for love or lovers.And in emotional expression，the active participant plays the role of the story-teller.Thus，most of the content in love lyrics are to describe the authorsfeelings from various perspectives which not only reinforces the feelings but also gives the texts a sense of coherence.For instance：

I have traveled so far to change this lonely life.I wanna know what love is.I want you to show me. I wanna feel what love is.I know you can show me.

This piece of love lyric is abstracted from a famous English love song“I Want To Know What Love Is”.It is pretty obvious that this abstraction follows a constant thematic progression pattern for all theme are the same，that is，“I”.The rhemes various from“have traveled so far to change this lonely life”to“know you can show me（what love is）”.Through the combination of a constant theme and different rhemes，the author express his or her feelings freely and deeply.Besides，this pattern also provides the author with a chance to express his or her feelings from different viewpoints，like“wanna know”“wanna feel”and“know you can show”.And all these viewpoints reinforce the authors feelings.

Derived themes can also be found in love lyrics.Most of them are applied to pose an analogy or to describe the authors imagination，such as the following example：

Wise men say only fools rush in.But I cant help falling in love with you.As the river flows gently to the sea，darling so we go.Some things were meant to be.

This pieces of text is an abstraction of the famous English love song“I Cant Help Falling In Love With You”.The theme of the third sentence is“as the river flows gently to the sea”which is an analogy to the rheme“darling so we go”.In this way，the author describe his expectations of love，that is，being together in a natural and comfortable way and never separating from each other，just like the river flows to the sea.And the theme of the last sentence“some things”seem to have no relation to the previous part，but，semantically，it corresponds with both“the river flows gently to the sea”and“darling so we go”because those things are also“meant to be”.Through the use of derived themes，the author naturally poses the analogy and fully explains his expectations toward love.

On the contrary，few split rheme pattern has been found in love lyrics.This may due to its unique structure which relies on a logical relation between sentences，while lyrics are supposed to be easy enough both in vocabulary and structure for the audience to understand and memorize.

4 Conclusion

Through the analysis on both themes and thematic progression patterns in English lyrics with love subject.First，simple themes overwhelm multiple themes.And dexis，especially pronouns，takes the largest proportion in simple themes as well as the experiential themes in multiple themes.Next，linear theme pattern and constant theme pattern are dominant in English lyrics with love subject，followed by derived themes.However，split rheme pattern rarely exist in this type of texts because of its relatively complex structure.Finally，all thematic progression patterns found in the texts can，to some extent，achieve a sense of coherence.

There are certainly limitations of the present research.For one thing，there is a limited data collection.For another，only love subject of English lyrics is chosen for the study，other subjects like friendship，patriotic，countryside，etc.are still left for the further research.

References

[1]Danes，F.Functional Sentence Perspective and the Organization of the Text.In F.Danes（Ed.），Papers on Functional Sentence Perspective.Prague：Academia，1974.

[2]Thomas Bloor，Meriel Bloor.The Functional Analysis of English：A Hallidayan Approach[M].Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2001.

[3]黃国文.语篇分析中的语篇类型研究[J].外语研究，1988.

作者简介

戴健（1994—），女，汉，河北承德人，东北师范大学外国语学院硕士研究生，邮编：130024；研究方向：英语语言文学（语言学）。