Author(s)

Tan Feifei

Corresponding Author

Tan Feifei

Abstract

Theme and Thematic Progression are important devices in text analysis. For a long period of time, many researchers have applied the thematic progression to analyze journalistic texts, advertising texts, and academic papers and so on. However, few researchers have analyzed political texts from the perspective of theme and thematic progression. We all know that as a special kind of text, political speeches require well—organized structures and impressive language to effectively express the speakers’ viewpoint and appeal the audiences. Therefore, the analysis of Theme and Thematic Progression of political speeches can not only facilitate effective textual organizing for the speaker to achieve communication but also help the audience understands the speakers’ thoughts and intentions. Based on the framework of Halliday’s thematic theory and Danes’s Thematic Progression patterns, the author select President Obama’s Election Success Speech as a case, and adopts quantitative and qualitative research methods to analyze the Themes and Thematic Progression patterns in it.

Keywords

Simple theme, multiple themes, thematic progression, political speeches