Hacia una definición de la función tema

Abstract

Como apunta Fries (1995), desde que Mathesius (traducido por Firbas 1964:286) hace su formulación inicial de Tema en la que combina dos aspectos: (1) information which is known or obvious in the situation, (2) information from which the speaker proceeds, este concepto ha sido objeto de extenso debate entre los miembros de la Escuela Lingüística de Praga. Dada su importancia y teniendo en cuenta la falta de unanimidad existente entre las diferentes escuelas a la hora de definir dicha función, en este trabajo expondremos algunas de las principales interpretaciones que se han hecho de dicho concepto. Ahondaremos en aquellas diferencias de definición que han contribuido a su carácter controvertido, específicamente partiremos de la idea de Tema defendida por la Gramática Sistémico Funcional (GSF) de Halliday para posteriormente trazar líneas de acercamiento o diferenciación con otras teorías.

As Fries (1995) points out, since Mathesius (translated by Firbas 1964:286) offered his definition of Theme in which he combined two aspects: 1) information which is known or obvious in the situation, (2) information from which the speaker procedes, this concept has undergone debate among the members of the Prague School of Linguistics. Taking into account the importance of this function and the lack of consensus that has existed among linguists and linguistic schools with respect to its definition, our intention in this essay is to present some of the most important interpretations this concept has received, underlining the main differences which have contributed to its controversial character. With this aim, we will take Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar concept of theme as starting point and then compare it with other relevant interpretations of this function.