Functional sentence perspective: A contrastive study of English and Arabic

This thesis is an investigation into the thematic structure of English and Arabic. It is carried within the framework of the Prague School theory of Functional Sentence Perspective. The thesis consists of six chapters, an introduction and some conclusive remarks. Chapter One gives an historical review of the theory of Functional Sentence Perspective and other related approaches to language description. Chapter Two outlines our own framework of investigation. It is based on Danes's three-level approach to syntax combined with Tesniere's model of 'verb valency'. Chapter Three deals with 'existential constructions' in the two languages under observation. Chapter Four demonstrates the relation between verb valency and the semantic relations expressed in the sentence. Chapter Five investigates the thematic structure of 'equational' sentences in English and Arabic. Chapter Six presents a variety of structural means used in English and Arabic for the purposes of Functional Sentence Perspective. In the concluding remarks we hope to offer some suggestions for further research