Thematic progression of Thai Song Dam folktales

Abstract

This paper reports on an investigation of Thai Song Dam folktales which is a linguistic part of "Textual data management of Thai Song Dam Ethnic Group". It draws on Systemic Functional Linguistics to investigate the discourse structure of ten Thai Song Dam folktales. The paper explores thematic progression patterns in Thai Song Dam folktales spoken in Thailand. The thematic progression is associated with the method of text development which is based on the typical thematic selection realized by unmarked and marked topical Themes (cf. Fries, 1981/1983, 1995a, 1995b). In this current study, patterns of thematic progression are explored as a way of revealing the textual organization of the folktales and the local progression achieved by the thematic selection of successive clauses (cf. Daneš (1974)). The data for this study were drawn from ten Thai Song Dam folktales. They were taken from secondary sources (e.g., folklore researches’ appendices, Thai Song Dan folktale collections). Based on Daneš's notion of thematic progression, patterns of Theme selection were explored. The study revealed that the most frequent pattern of thematic progression selected in the ten folktales was the continuous or constant Theme expressed by unmarked topical Themes. Both ellipsed and non-ellipsed unmarked topical Themes were selected and repeated as the point of departure of each clause. The second most frequent pattern is linear Theme pattern. The study also revealed that the primary methods of folktale development are those of temporal and spatial organizations.