Session 3

English information structure

Sentential level info structure
Key concepts:
● The ordering of information within a sentence;
○ Elements of a sentence include: S, V, O, A
● The context;
○ Context can change how information is organized within a sentence;
○ When a speaker wants to emphasize that they bought a particular laptop: “This laptop
(not that one) I bought in Hanoi.”
● Devices/context that signal given and/or new status;
○ Given: old information - point of departure, or theme;
○ New: crucial aspect, because that is the point of communication, or rheme;
■ But new information depends on old information;

Ordering of info distributed in the sentence

Constrained by these three principles:

Principle of end-weight and end-focus

most important/longer elements are pushed to the end of a sentence;
Compare these two sentences:
1. The will benefits an uncle, two cousins, 10 neighbors, and 1000 homeless beggars;
2. An uncle, two cousins, ... benefits from the will.
>>(1) The first sentence sounds better as the longer part is pushed to the end of the sentence.
Communicative dynamism (SVOCA)
● the ordering of these elements (S,V,O,C,A) change according to context;
● In other words, the actual and contextual contribution in meaning of each major element in a
sentence (S, V, O, C, A) can change with respect to the flexible and changeable role it plays
in communication.
● Things that carry new information have the most communicative dynamism.

Non-canonical constructions (SV/SVO);

● Canonical - begins with grammatical subject;
● Non-canonical - does not begin with grammatical subject;
● Types of subject: Psychological, grammatical and logical subject.

Canonical clause patterns:

● SV: The sun is shining (brilliantly) - brilliantly is not mandatory and as such this sentence is
still SV.
● SVC: Your dinner seems ready (Complement of subject)
● SVO: That lecture bored me.
● SVA: My office is in the next building
● SVOO: I must send my parents an anniversary card.
● SVOC: Most students have found her very helpful. (Complement of object)
● SVOA: You can put the dish on the table.
(Object is affected by the verb, complements are not affected by the verb, but rather complete the
subject/object by describing it in more detail.)

Non-canonical clause patterns

Main functions:
● focusing - performed by putting an element in a striking position in the sentence.
○ used to emphasize information;
● contrasting - performed using ‘it-cleft’ and ‘wh-cleft’ structures
○ used to rectify wrong functions.
● thematizing - performed through fronting and left-dislocation
○ used to make an item the topic or marked theme of the sentence by pushing it to the
sentential initial position
● topicalizing,
 ● discourse linking
→ Non-canonical constructions = constructions in which some items of info are dislocated from

their normal position towards either the initial or final position of the sentence.
Fronting/pre-posing/topicalization - indicates when we move some elements away from their usual
position to the initial position of the sentence;
Function: linking new discourses to prior ones;
● Example: The cheese they sold mainly to the miners.
● Od (object determination): The cheese they sold mainly to the miners
● Cprep (complement of preposition) - Others I have only that nodding acquaintance with, and
some are total strangers;
● Cs (complement of subject) - Rare indeed is the individual who do not belong to these
groups.
○ This is an example of the end-weight principle/inversion in action.
● Co (complement of object): … and traitor we shall call him
● Fronting vs inversion:
○ Inversion: V before subject - A;so complementary is red and white wine
○ Fronting: bringing some element to the top, but V is still after S - Rich as I have ever
been.
Left-dislocation - new information is moved to the left of the sentence.
● Example: The cheese they made there, they sold most of it to the miners.
● LD uses pronouns (“it” in the example above) to refer to new information.
● Function: Emphasize the info which the writer thinks is more important;
● Left-dislocation is in conflict with the end-weight principle, and it is dependent on the user to
decide which to use in the appropriate context.
Right-dislocation - Things that were evoked in earlier discourse are put to the right;
● It bothered her for weeks, John’s smile.
● Function: Clarification, compensate for unclear info;
Argument reversal (inversion and passivization)
(Argument: a phrase that is required by a verb as a complementation;
Argument reversal: the reversing of the arguments in a sentence._
Inversion: Also complimentary is red and white wine.
Passivization: Logical subject is mentioned in a phrase beginning with “by” - the syntactic subject
must represent relatively familiar information;
● Function:
 ○ Avoid weak impersonal subjects;
○ Maintain the same subject in the discourse, preserve the continuity of the topic, not to
break the topic.
○ Disclaim responsibility, evade personal involvement;
○ Promote predicates;
○ Focus on objects of interest.
○ Eg. The device was tested by the manufacturer (the whole essay may be about the
device, thus putting “device” first allows the topic to continue and avoid incoherence.)
○ Non-felicitous example: Allen will take office Jan 1. The current mayor will be
replaced by him.
Cleft structure
Definition: Aims at giving an item more prominence by cleaving the sentence into two parts,
beginning with the it-cleft and ending with the wh-cleft.
Example: John wore his best suit to the dance last night.
● It was last night that John wore his suit to the dance;
● It was wearing the suit that John did in the dance;
● Anaphoric - refer forwards: When John opened the door, he found a cat.
● Cataphoric - refer backwards
Function: rectify wrongs.

Post-posing (existential there and presentational there-sentences)

Post-posing enables the changed element to represent new information.
Function: Introduce new information.
Example:
● Existential “there”: There is a spider on the wall
>> the fact that there is a spider on the wall is new information to the listener and the
discourse.
● Presentational “there”: Not far from Avenue de Villiers there lived a foreign doctor, a
specialist, I understood, in midwifery and gynecology.
>> A foreign doctor here is already known to the listener but new to the discourse.

Conversing
Refers to the changing of one word into another part of speech.
Example:
 ● Head the ball to the goal.
● Hand me the bottle.
● The PO is opposite the church
○ You already know where the church is;
● The church is opposite the PO
○ You already know where the PO is.
● The bike is opposite the church
○ The church is at the back because it is immovable and a landmark
Verbs, prepositions and adjectives that support conversing:
● benefit (from)
● rent (to/from)
● lend (to)/ borrow (from)/ give (to),
● receive (from),
● sell (to),
● buy (from),
● contain,
● behind/in front of,
● opposite,
● near (to),
● far (from) - used only in questions and negatives, except when it comes after so and very.
● similar (to),
● different (from),
● married (to).
● Go/come: past, present, and future
● Take/bring
● Lend/borrow
● Fetch me a doctor/Fetch me some water

Discourse level IS

Given-new status of exchanged info

The distinction between givenness and newness depends on either its recoverability or predictability
or both
● Old information: recoverable, predictable;
 ● New information: non-recoverable, non predictable.

Old New

theme rheme

topic comment

known/given info unknown, new info

presupposition focus

basis

Speakers tend to start the conversation with something new in their mind (potentially becoming the
rheme) which they wish to communicate and they use the theme as the ‘point of departure’.
Exception:
● John saw the play yesterday - John is rheme, saw the play is theme.

Contextual constraints
Whether an item should be treated as given or new is constrained by the context in which it occurs
Main textual patterns include the following:
● Problem-solution
● General-particular
● Hypothetical-real
● Question-answer
● Goal-achievement
● Narrative
● Opportunity-taking
● Desire arousal-fulfillment
● Gap in Knowledge-filling

Features of academic texts at lexical grammar level and discourse level

1st feature
The preference for more formal verbs/single verbs (rather than phrasal verbs/prepositional verbs or
more colloquial verbs), for example, investigate rather than look into, fluctuate rather than go up and
down, offer, rather than come up with, obtain rather than get, and so on;
2nd feature
The need to avoid colloquial expressions such as sort of negative, the future is up in the air, pretty
good; stuff, things, bunch, a whole lot of (more formal expressions are preferred if one exists)

3rd feature
The need to avoid contracted forms such as isn’t, can’t, and so on

4th feature
The preference for nominalized forms, for example, the cooperative of IBM and Apple led to the
establishment of a new factory

5th feature
The avoidance of run on expressions such as etc., and and so forth

6th feature
Avoid addressing the readers as you (except in instructional materials). Use passivization instead.

7th feature
Place adverbs within the verbs (avoid using adverbs at the beginning or end of sentences wherever
possible)

8th feature
Avoid using split infinitives (e.g., to sharply rise) unless in case of potential awkwardness or
ambiguity caused by not splitting.
Not splitting sometimes causes the adverb used to be understood as modifying another verb in the
sentence rather than the infinitive itself (e.g., We need to adequately meet the needs of those enrolled
in the program, not “We need to meet the needs of those enrolled in the program adequately”, as this
construction may lead to “adequately” being mistaken as modifying “enrolled” and not “meet”).

9th feature
Avoid redundancies in using vocabulary
Ex: In the imminent near future

10th feature
The careful and selective use of the personal forms I, we, and you and the avoidance of one;
11th feature
The avoidance of direct questions and the preference for indirect questions