What's Wrong With Jim Martin's Misunderstanding Of Un/marked Theme?

(1) Applying Martin's model yields:

Blessed	are	those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
Theme: marked	Rheme	Theme: unmarked

That is, the clause as message is deemed to have two 'points of departure', one at the beginning and one at the end, both providing the context for the body of the message, which is simply 'are'.

Cf Halliday's version of Halliday's theory:

Blessed	are	those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
Theme: marked	Rheme
Attribute	Process: relational	Carrier
Complement	Finite	Subject
Residue	Mood

(2) Applying Martin's model yields:

Sad	therefore	in his view	is	how to describe it
Theme: marked	Rh-	Theme: marked	-eme	Theme: unmarked

That is, the clause as message is deemed to have three 'points of departure', one at the beginning, one in the middle and one at the end, each providing the context for the body of the message, which is the discontinuous Rheme 'therefore…is'.

Cf Halliday's version of Halliday's theory:

Sad	therefore	in his view	is	how to describe it
Theme: marked	Rheme
Attribute		Angle	Process: relational	Carrier
Complement	conjunctive Adjunct	circumstantial Adjunct	Finite	Subject
Residue			Mood

For the paradigmatic opposition of unmarked and marked Theme, see here.

How To Analyse Relational Clauses

Q1: Can either participant be made Subject?
A1a: No —> The clause is attributive; the Subject is Carrier
A1b: Yes —> The clause is identifying; go to Q2.

Q2: Is the identifying clause operative or receptive?
A2a: Operative —> The Subject is Token.
A2b: Receptive —> The Subject is Value.

Q3: Is tonic prominence on the Token or the Value?
A3a: Token —> The Token is the Identifier
A3b: Value —> The Value is the Identifier.

Q4: Is the Identifier the Token or the Value?
A4a: Token —> The clause is encoding.
A4b: Value —> The clause is decoding.

Q5: Is the clause encoding or decoding?
A5a: encoding —> the clause is effective: Agent/Token; Medium/Value
A5b: decoding —> the clause is middle: Medium/Token; Range/Value

Training vs Education

The Sad Truth

Premature Articulation

As a rule, the man who first thinks of a new idea is so much ahead of his time that everyone thinks him silly, so that he remains obscure and is soon forgotten.  Then, gradually, the world becomes ready for his idea, and the man who proclaims it at the fortunate moment gets all the credit.

— Bertrand Russell History Of Western Philosophy 

Context Of Situation

"What's aught but as 'tis valued?": the verb BE and its synonyms

Theme

Halliday & Matthiessen (1999: 9):

Textually, the clause presents the ideational and interpersonal information as a message — a contribution to the text evolving in its context. It is structured as Theme ^ Rheme; the Theme provides a local environment created for this clause, positioning it in the unfolding text.

Orthography