Thematic Progression in English and Urdu: A Comparative Analysis of Robinson Crusoe

Abstract

It is a thematic study exploring the discourse-organizing device of thematic progression in the English and Urdu versions of the book Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. Using the paradigm of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), in particular, the theme-rheme theory by Halliday and the thematic progression theory by Daneš, the study examines the construction and negotiation of coherence in two typologically unrelated languages. An analysis of some narrative, descriptive, and reflective excerpts of both texts is carried out using a qualitative discourse-analytical approach. The results are that English discourse is largely linear in its thematic presentation to provide logical continuity whereas Urdu tends to reorganize thematic patterns to achieve explicitness and cultural reachability. The paper establishes the fact that translation is a process of discourse-level level of change and not a purely lexical replacement process. The findings are beneficial to contrastive linguistics, discourse analysis, and the study of translation because these patterns of research have been applied to the discourse of Urdu literature.

Keyword:  Thematic, progression, English, Urdu, Comparative, Analysis, Robinson, Crusoe .