Theme and Sequence Organization
Raymond F Person · 2015
In Chapter 3 we saw how traditional phraseology in oral traditions can be understood as an adaptation of the turn-taking system in conversation. After discussing the formula in The Singer in Tales, Lord described a larger structure he labeled “theme,” defined as “a group of words which is regularly employed under the same metrical conditions to express a given essential idea” (Lord 1960: 30). A similar move is made in conversation analysis from a discussion of small units of meaning (TCUs) to sequences of turns. When these two observations are combined, we can see how thematic structures are adaptations of sequences-that is, we can make an argument at the larger level of organization that is analogous to how traditional phraseology can be understood as an adaptation of turn construction.