Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics
Prague School term introduced by Matthesius (1929) for denoting the analysis of a sentence in respect to its communicative function. The basis of the sentence is known information, called the theme (topic, given), while that which is said about the known information is considered to be the rheme (comment, new). This semantic classification, which has both semantic and contextual aspects, is reflected in word order, use of pronouns, articles, and intonation.
References
Brömser, B. 1982. Funktionale Satzperspektive im Englischen. Tübingen.
Dik, S.C. 1989. Theory of functional grammar, part 1. Dordrecht.
Firbas, J. 1992. Functional sentence perspective in written and spoken communication. Cambridge.
Grewendorf, G. 1980.
Funktionale Satzperspektive und deutsche Wortstellung. LingB 66. 28–40.
Jacobs, J. 1984. Funktionale Satzperspektive und Illokutionssemantik. LingB 91. 25–58.
Lötscher, A. 1984. Satzgliedstellung und funktionale Satzperspektive. JIdS 1983.118–51.
Matthesius, V. 1929. Zur Satzperspektive im modernen Englisch. ASNS 84: 202–10.
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