12.5 The information structure (topic/focus) tier
Across a range oftheoretical approaches, there is a broad consensus thatpart ofthephrasal semantics/pragmaticsofa
sentence is an organization in terms ofinformation structure, which invokes such distinctions as focus/presupposition,
topic/comment, theme/rheme, and old/new information (Bolinger 1965b; Jackendoff 1972; Stalnaker 1978; Sgall et
al. 1986; Rochemont and Culicover 1990; Lambrecht 1994; Rooth 1996; Ladd 1996; Büring 1996; Van Valin and
LaPolla 1997; Vallduví and Vilkuna 1998; Roberts 1998; McNally 1998; Erteschik-Shir 1998; Prince 1998; Steedman
2000). The present section is an attempt to sort out the main insights of these approaches and to sketch how they
might be integrated into the present framework.
Information structure is concerned with the role of the sentence in the speaker-hearer interaction—the means by
which the speaker intends the sentence to infor mthe hearer, in the context of previous discourse. The si mplest
illustrations of information structure phenomena are question-answer pairs such as (52) and (53). In English, prosody
playsa crucialroleintheexpressionofinformationstructure,so Ihaveindicatedstressed wordsincapitals. (Injudging
the replies in (52) and (53), it is important to stressonlywords that are marked as stressed!)
(52) J: Who went to the party?
K: a. PAT went to the party.
b. Pat went to the PARTY.
c. PAT.
d. The PARTY.
e. The one who went to the party was PAT.
f. The place where Pat went was the PARTY.
(53) J: Where did Pat go?
K: a. Pat went to the PARTY.
b. PAT went to the party.
c. The PARTY.
d. PAT.
e. The place where Pat went was the PARTY.
f. The one who went to the party was PAT.
Part of K's replycorresponds to thewh-phrase in J's question:Patin (52) andthe partyin (53). This piece can appear as
a stressed element inan ordinary sentenceused as an answer, as in (52a) and (53a). Alternatively, itcanstand aloneas a
sentence fragment, as in (52c) and (53c). Or it can appear as the“clefted”element in