278 Julia Lavid, Jorge Arús and Lara Moratón
Concerning the texts’ method of development, i.e. “how Thematic elements suc-
ceed each other” (Eggins 2004: 324), no clearly defined kind of thematic devel-
opment was identified for either genre. The basic thematic progression patterns
(i.e. constant, linear and derived) are used differently from text to text,^4 which is
probably a reflection of the individual logogenetic traits of the writer rather than
of generic characteristics.^5 This applies to both English and Spanish. Likewise, our
scrutiny has shed no light on the possibility to associate certain kinds of thematic
progression with certain kinds of moves, as the ones discussed above.
Turning to the third kind of analysis proposed above, i.e. the inner structure
of Themes, we found some relevant thematic differences, both across genres and
across languages. Themes were found to be heavier in commentaries – mostly
in move 2, outlining the arguments – than in reports, and more clearly so in
English than in Spanish. Thematic fields in English commentaries often include
an Outer Thematic Field, as illustrated by the Interpersonal Theme After all in
bold in Example (35), and the Inner Thematic Field can have a long preHead,
as illustrated by (36), with its long circumstantial PreHead If the government in
Khartoum [...] in January 2011. Incidentally, the Thematic Field in (36) is made
even heavier by the presence of the apposition with calamitous consequences for
the peoples of Sudan and the entire region’ as part of the Thematic Head ‘a return to
full-scale civil war.
(35) After all, the oppressive nature of the regime in Khartoum is at the root of the
many conflicts that have torn the country apart.
(The Bigger Issue in Sudan. Comment 1)
(36) If the government in Khartoum persists in undermining the reform process
and derailing the referendum on self-determination promised for the South
in January 2011, a return to full-scale civil war, with calamitous consequences
for the peoples of Sudan and the entire region, is a real possibility.
(The Bigger Issue in Sudan. Comment 1)
The English news reports, in contrast, tended to have successions of lighter Themes
than those in commentaries, thus contributing to a more factual, less opinionated,
image. This can be clearly seen in the extract shown in (37), where the Thematic- Simple linear progression means that “new information in the Rheme of the first clause is
taken up to be the Theme of the second”; constant, or continuous, progression happens when “the
same Theme...is maintained across a series of coordinated clauses, each with its own Rheme”;
derived Themes “relate to a ‘hypertheme’ or ‘global topic’” (Downing & Locke 2006: 247). - Logogenesis refers to the “ongoing creation of meaning in the unfolding of text” (Halliday &
Matthiessen 2004: 43).