Differences between theme and rema

In this lesson from a TEACHER we will study what are the differences between theme and rema of a text but, first, it is necessary to be clear about what a text in Spanish is. We understand by text all those ideas linked and expressed through words or sentences, always with a communicative purpose; that is, all text must be intended to convey a message to others. The theme and the rema are two of the fundamental parts that constitute the structure of a text.

In every text there is a succession of ideas chained together. Normally, at the beginning of each text, we are presented with the general or most important idea of ​​it and, As this progresses, more information and details related to the idea previously are incorporated exposed.

For this reason, the texts follow a logical and coherent order, since if this were not the case it would not make sense and we would not be able to communicate adequately. This succession of known information and new information is called thematic progression, and it is the way in which the coherence of a text is shown.

In the 20th century, a group of linguists, grouped under the name of the Prague School, carried out various studies about the organization of information within a text and they established that it was divided into two clearly differentiated parts: the theme and the rema.

Taking into account the studies related to textual semantics, we can divide the text into two parts: the theme and the rema.

• First, known information is called a topic that composes a text; that is to say, the most general part, which presupposes prior knowledge on the part of the participants in the discourse. The main idea on which the content of the message is based is also considered a topic.
• In second place, the rema is everything we say on the subject; that is, the new information that is added progressively, in a logical and coherent way about the main idea.

Thus, one of the main differences that exist between the theme and the theme of the text is that the same theme can have several rows, since we can incorporate into the text all the new information that we deem appropriate.

For example, if we are describing the personality of Pepe, a boy we all know, we can say about him that he is friendly, that he is always there when needed and that he loves to play soccer and go out with his friends. Thus, in this example we can identify Pepe as a subject (who is the person that all the speakers who participate in the conversation) and we see that there are several remas referring to what Pepe's character is like and what his hobbies.

On the other hand, in a text we can also find a chained succession of themes: a topic appears with its corresponding row and this becomes the subject of the following information, which becomes row, etc. This is what happens when we tell past stories, such as the following: I was at my house when my friend called me and she told me that she wanted to meet up to go to the movies. In this example we see that, as we add new information or information, the already known information becomes a topic and so on.

Therefore, by way of summary, we could say that the difference between theme and rema of a text is that the first refers to the information already known and the second is identified with the new information that little by little appears as the text progresses.