Some Notes on the Role of the English Verb in the Context of FSP (Semantic homogeneity within the non-thematic layers)

With regard to the general tendency of English towards nominal expression in predication, it has been largely taken for granted that the verb in English is usually semantically weak. In relation to this phenomenon, the present paper discusses Firbas' treatment of the verb within his theory of functional sentence perspective (FSP), making use of the text material of Stephen Leacock's story "How to live to be 200" from the collection titled Literary Lapses. In the framework of FSP, the English verb tends to be the mediator (or transition) between the theme and the rheme. The present paper, nevertheless, exemplifies and comments on a somewhat alternative function of the English verb regarding its role in displaying semantic homogeneity of the transitional track. The semantically unified character of the transition is discussed from the point of view of several aspects of the text under analysis, such as gradation effect or aesthetic function.