Actual Division: Its Distinctive Features In Scientific Russian And English Speech

Abstract

The so-called communicative-functional approach, i.e. the study of language units from the point of view of communication has long been of great interest among scientists. The actual division of sentences is one of the most important tools for mastering the scientific style of speech, which helps students build cohesive, coherent and logical statements in oral and written professionally significant communication. The article considers the relevance of studying the theme-rhematic division of a sentence or utterance in scientific speech in a comparative analysis of Russian and English. The ways of highlighting the theme and rheme in these languages are described. The main focus is on the relationship of the syntactic word order with the actual division of a sentence or utterance. Special attention is paid to intonation, logical stress, and context as means of highlighting the theme and rheme in the languages being considered. The importance of creating a special manual which helps students master English using the basic knowledge of the actual division of a sentence or utterance is emphasized.