Information structure

Information structure is now the most common term for those aspects of a sentence's meaning that have to do with the way in which the hearer integrates the information into already existing information. Put more simply, information structure is the domain of language structure and language study that is concerned with notions such as topic, comment, presupposition, and focus.

Synonyms

• discourse pragmatics
• functional sentence perspective (associated with the Prague School)
• information packaging
• topic-focus-structure
• actual articulation (in Russian linguistics)
• theme-rheme articulation (associated with the Prague School)
• French visée communicative

Origin

According to Erteschik-Shir (2007:1), the term goes back to Halliday (1967). However, it became dominant only in the 1990s.

References

• Erteschik-Shir, Nomi. 2007. Information structure: The syntax-discourse interface. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Halliday, M.A.K. 1967. Notes on transitivity and theme in English. Part 2. Journal of Linguistics 3:199-244.

Other languages

German Informationsstruktur