Arús Hita, Jorge2024-11-072024-11-072022Arús Hita, Jorge. «Theme as Point of Departure in English and Spanish Casual Conversation : A Contrastive Study». Language, Context and Text, vol. 4, n.º 2, 2022, pp. 197-226. www.jbe-platform.com, https://doi.org/10.1075/langct.21009.aru.2589-723310.1075/langct.21009.aruhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/110269This paper uses a trinocular approach – i.e. from below, from above and from roundabout – to describe Theme as point of departure (POD) in English and Spanish casual conversation (thus avoiding the more controversial ‘what-the-clause-is-about’ aspect of Theme). This research is part of a long-term contrastive study which includes the description of POD in academic writing and a crosslinguistic comparison of POD in academic writing and casual conversation. Among the main findings in this paper, the following stand out: a) the identification of a conversational texture characterized by the interplay of textual and interpersonal strands of meaning; and b) different POD arrangements of English and Spanish clauses in casual conversation, motivated by different ways of enacting communicative exchange.engTheme as point of departure in English and Spanish casual conversation : A contrastive studyjournal article2589-7241https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/langct.21009.aruhttps://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/25897241https://benjamins.com/content/homehttps://www.jbe-platform.com/https://doi.org/10.1075/langct.21009.aruopen access811.111811.134.2Casual conversationThemePoint of departureSystemic Functional LinguisticsEnglish/Spanish contrastsTrinocular approachTextureMetafunctional interplayDiscourse markersGapped thematic progressionLingüística57 Lingüística