CONTENTS
Preface = xiii
1 Introduction = 1
1.1 What is information structure? = 1
1.2 The place of information structure in grammar = 6
1.3 Information structure and sentence form: a sample analysis = 13
1.3.1 Three examples = 13
1.3.2 A note on markedness in information structure = 15
1.3.3 Analysis = 19
1.3.4 Summary = 24
1.4 Information structure and syntax = 25
1.4.1 Autonomy versus motivation in grammar = 26
1.4.2 The functional underspecification of syntactic structures = 29
1.4.3 Sentence types and the notion of grammatical construction = 32
2 Information = 36
2.1 The universe of discourse = 36
2.2 Information = 43
2.3 Presupposition and assertion = 51
2.4 The pragmatic accommodation of presuppositional structure = 65
3 The mental representations of discourse referents = 74
3.1 Discourse referents = 74
3.2 Identifiability = 77
3.2.1 Identifiability and presupposition = 77
3.2.2 Identifiability and definiteness = 79
3.2.3 The establishment of identifiability in discourse = 87
3.3 Activation = 93
3.3.1 The activation states of referents = 93
3.3.2 Principles of pragmatic construal = 101
3.4 Summary and illustration = 105
3.5 Identifiability, activation, and the topic-focus parameter = 113
4 Pragmatic relations: topic = 117
4.1 Definition of topic = 117
4.1.1 Topic and aboutness = 117
4.1.2 Topic referents and topic expressions = 127
4.2 Topic and subject = 131
4.2.1 Subjects as unmarked topics = 131
4.2.2 Non-topical subjects and the thetic-categorical distinction = 137
4.2.3 Topical non-subjects and multiple-topic sentences = 146
4.3 Topic, presupposition, and semantic interpretation = 150
4.4 Topic and the mental representations of referents = 160
4.4.1 Topic relation and activation state = 160
4.4.2 The Topic Acceptability Scale = 165
4.4.3 Unaccented pronominals as preferred topic expressions = 172
4.4.4 Topic promotion = 176
4.4.4.1 Presentational constructions = 177
4.4.4.2 Detachment constructions = 181
4.5 Implications for syntactic theory = 184
4.5.1 The Principle of the Separation of Reference and Role = 184
4.5.2 The PSRR and the canonical sentence model = 189
4.5.3 The syntactic status of detached constituents = 192
4.6 Topic and pragmatic accommodation = 195
4.7 Topic and word order = 199
5 Pragmatic relations: focus = 206
5.1 Definition of focus = 206
5.1.1 Focus, presupposition, and assertion = 206
5.1.2 Focus, and sentence accents = 218
5.2 Focus structure and focus marking = 221
5.2,1 Types of focus structure = 221
5.2.2 Predicate-focus structure = 226
5.2.3 Argument-focus structure = 228
5.2.4 Sentence-focus structure = 233
5.2.5 Summary = 235
5.3 Prosodic accents: iconicity, rule, default = 238
5.3.1 Accent, intonation, stress = 238
5.3.2 Iconic motivation versus grammatical rule = 241
5.3.3 Default accentuation = 248
5.4 Focus and the mental representations of referents = 257
5.4.1 Focus relation and activation state = 257
5.4.2 Predicates versus arguments = 264
5.4.3 Focus relation, activation, and presupposition = 269
5.4.3.1 Complete presupposed propositions = 270
5.4.3.2 Open presupposed propositions = 277
5.4.4 Focus and information questions = 282
5.5 Contrastiveness = 286
5.5.1 Contrastive foci = 286
5.5.2 Contrastive topics = 291
5.6 Marked and unmarked focus structure = 296
5.6.1 Predicate focus and argument focus = 297
5.6.2 Sentence focus = 307
5.6.2.1 The theoretical issue = 307
5.6.2.2 Previous approaches = 311
5.6.2.3 Prosodic inversion = 318
5.7 A unified functional account of sentence accentuation = 322
5.7.1 Activation prosody revisited = 323
5.7.2 Topic accents and focus accents: some examples = 326
6 Summary and conclusion = 334
Notes = 341
References = 362
Index = 376
