13 Information structure
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Anna Berge
Abstract
The way people decide to present what they want to say reflects the choices they make about what it is they want to focus on, or what they think other people in a conversation know. The study of how people package the information they want to convey in a sentence is called information structure. Some important concepts in the study of information structure include the notions of focus (what a speaker considers particularly important information), topic (what a speaker is talking about), and wordorder (what information a speaker decides to present first). Indigenous languages, being so different syntactically to widely spoken languages like English, have much to offer to studies of information structure. For example, how are notions such as focus and topic indicated when a sentence may consist of a single word? In this chapter, I present the basic notions of and approaches to information structure and the challenges that Indigenous languages have posed to studies of information structure, then conclude with a brief look at why an understanding of information structure is helpful for language revitalization efforts.
Abstract
The way people decide to present what they want to say reflects the choices they make about what it is they want to focus on, or what they think other people in a conversation know. The study of how people package the information they want to convey in a sentence is called information structure. Some important concepts in the study of information structure include the notions of focus (what a speaker considers particularly important information), topic (what a speaker is talking about), and wordorder (what information a speaker decides to present first). Indigenous languages, being so different syntactically to widely spoken languages like English, have much to offer to studies of information structure. For example, how are notions such as focus and topic indicated when a sentence may consist of a single word? In this chapter, I present the basic notions of and approaches to information structure and the challenges that Indigenous languages have posed to studies of information structure, then conclude with a brief look at why an understanding of information structure is helpful for language revitalization efforts.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Table of contents VII
- List of North American families, languages, and dialects XIII
- Maps XLI
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I Sounds and sound structure
- 1 Acoustic phonetics 1
- 2 Articulatory phonetics 39
- 3 Tone 63
- 4 Segmental phonology 89
- 5 Prosodic morphology 109
- 6 Word prosody 135
- 7 Prosody beyond the word 155
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II Words
- 8 What is a word? 183
- 9 Word classes 205
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III Sentences
- 10 Syntax within the clause 247
- 11 Negatives 267
- 12 Questions and requests in North American languages 283
- 13 Information structure 305
- 14 Clause-combining: Relative clauses 323
- 15 Clause combining: Syntax of subordination and complementation 345
- 16 Switch-reference and event cohesion 363
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IV Discourse
- 17 Verbal art 385
- 18 Conversation structure 421
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V Meaning
- 19 Lexicalization and lexical meaning 453
- 20 Lexicography 479
- 21 Evidentiality 497
- 22 Pluractionality and distributivity 511
- 23 Mass and count nouns 527
- 24 Sense of place: Space, landscape, and orientation 547
- 25 A sense of time and world 577
- 26 Pragmatics 599
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VI Languages over space and time
- 27 Languages as dynamic systems: How grammar can emerge 619
- 28 Language contact and linguistic areas 647
- 29 Language classification 669
- 30 Archival-based sociolinguistic variation 689
- 31 Community-based sociolinguistic variation 701
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Table of contents VII
- List of North American families, languages, and dialects XIII
- Maps XLI
-
I Sounds and sound structure
- 1 Acoustic phonetics 1
- 2 Articulatory phonetics 39
- 3 Tone 63
- 4 Segmental phonology 89
- 5 Prosodic morphology 109
- 6 Word prosody 135
- 7 Prosody beyond the word 155
-
II Words
- 8 What is a word? 183
- 9 Word classes 205
-
III Sentences
- 10 Syntax within the clause 247
- 11 Negatives 267
- 12 Questions and requests in North American languages 283
- 13 Information structure 305
- 14 Clause-combining: Relative clauses 323
- 15 Clause combining: Syntax of subordination and complementation 345
- 16 Switch-reference and event cohesion 363
-
IV Discourse
- 17 Verbal art 385
- 18 Conversation structure 421
-
V Meaning
- 19 Lexicalization and lexical meaning 453
- 20 Lexicography 479
- 21 Evidentiality 497
- 22 Pluractionality and distributivity 511
- 23 Mass and count nouns 527
- 24 Sense of place: Space, landscape, and orientation 547
- 25 A sense of time and world 577
- 26 Pragmatics 599
-
VI Languages over space and time
- 27 Languages as dynamic systems: How grammar can emerge 619
- 28 Language contact and linguistic areas 647
- 29 Language classification 669
- 30 Archival-based sociolinguistic variation 689
- 31 Community-based sociolinguistic variation 701
