A Way to Conceal Information

Non-Agentive Subjects in Thematic Position

Abstract

This study focuses on a particular form of concealing information: placing non-agent subjects in thematic position. Making inanimate nouns the subject of a verb of action renders the addressee defenceless and the result of the sentence inevitable, since the performative agent is obscured from action. As well, other verbs with non-agentive subject can also conceal the actual protagonist who controls the process. This strategy arises from the fact that the information placed in thematic position is taken for granted and is usually not questioned. It is therefore a technique not only to present as known facts that are not actually shared, but also to disguise those that can be controversial or even false (Núñez and Teso, 1996). It is to be supposed that the thematic position can be used to conceal or even manipulate, especially when non-agent subjects are incorporated.

In order to observe how this strategy works, this study examines various samples from the Spanish press, giving priority to the headlines, and it pays special attention to events that deal negatively with the economic resources of the population. The analysis follows the guidelines of Critical Discourse Analysis, Pragmatics and the contributions made by the Functional Grammar of Spanish from the Alarquian School of Oviedo on the division between theme and rheme (Fernández Lorences, 2010; Gutiérrez Ordóñez, 1997).