13.1 Given and new information

Information structure in sentences and discourse is all about how we organize and present information. It's like arranging furniture in a room - you want everything to flow smoothly and make sense to anyone who walks in.

Given information is like the comfy old couch everyone knows, while new information is the shiny new lamp you just bought. How we arrange these pieces affects how well our message gets across and how easy it is to understand.

Information Structure in Sentences and Discourse

Given vs new information

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• Given information: Previously introduced content familiar to listener/reader provides context (the car we saw yesterday)
• New information: Unfamiliar or important content advances discourse or adds knowledge (broke down on the highway)
• Relationship: Creates cohesion and coherence manages information flow in communication

Markers of information status

• Prosodic features: Stress and intonation patterns highlight new information through pitch accents
• Syntactic structures: Passive voice emphasizes new information cleft sentences reorganize focus (It was John who called)
• Lexical choices: Definite articles signal given information indefinite articles introduce new information (The dog vs a cat)
• Word order: Given information often appears earlier new information typically placed towards the end

Context in information structure

• Shared knowledge between communicators influences information status
• Previous mentions in discourse establish given information
• Cultural and situational context shape interpretation of new vs given
• Inference and implication allow listeners to deduce information
• Presupposition and entailment affect information status
• Discourse markers and connectives signal relationships between given and new (however, moreover)

Information distribution and syntax

• End-weight principle: Places new or complex information at sentence end (She gave the book to her friend)
• Topic-comment structure: Topic (given) often appears first followed by comment (new)
• Information packaging: Thematic progression in paragraphs and longer texts maintains coherence
• Sentence focus and emphasis: Fronting or topicalization highlights specific information (That book, I really enjoyed)
• Syntactic variations: Right and left dislocation extraposition for heavy constituents alter information flow (He's a genius, that guy)