non-theˈmatic, a.
[non- 3.]
1. Linguistics. = athematic a. 1.
| 1933 E. H. Sturtevant Compar. Gram. Hittite Lang. vi. 217 There is also, as in I[ndo-] E[uropean], a distinction between thematic and non-thematic conjugation. 1955 T. Burrow Sanskrit Lang. vii. 318 The verbs are divided into two major types, (a) non-thematic..and (b) thematic. |
b. Not conveying new information; constituting part of the rheme; = rhematic a.
| 1959 Brno Studies in English I. 43 The indefinite article and its zero plural variant..play an important part in that co-operation of means which may render non-thematic even such a subject as occurs at the very beginning, or very near the beginning, of the sentence. |
2. Mus. = athematic a. 2.
| 1946 G. Abraham in A. L. Bacharach Brit. Mus. 55 Neptune, the Mystic, which shares with Saturn the distinction of being one of the most remarkable purely impressionistic, practically non-thematic pieces of music ever written. |