rheme (n.)

In the PRAGUE SCHOOL approach to LINGUISTICS, a term distinguished from THEME, as part of an analysis of the INFORMATION structure of messages, within an overall theoretical framework known as FUNCTIONAL SENTENCE PERSPECTIVE. The rheme is defined as the part of a sentence which adds most to the advancing process of communication (it has the highest degree of COMMUNICATIVE DYNAMISM); in other words, it expresses the largest amount of extra MEANING, in addition to what has already been communicated. The theme, by contrast, carries the lowest degree of communicative dynamism. Various transitional expressions, neither ‘thematic’ nor rhematic, are also recognized.