On Information Structure in Discourse Analysis

Abstract： This paper attempts to comb the basic point of view of the theory of Information Structure from the angles of syntactic form， and explore three fundamental principles of the arrangement of information.

摘 要：本文主要從句法形式角度對信息結構這一重要語言學理論進行了分析，探討了話語分析中組織信息的基本原則。

Key words： Information Structure， syntactic form， fundamental principles

關鍵詞：信息結構；句法形式；基本原則

作者簡介：趙凌志（1975.2-），女（漢），長春，長春工程學院外語學院，講師，碩士，主要從事外國語言學及應用語言學研究。

[中圖分類號]：H314.3 [文獻標識碼]：A

[文章編號]：1002-2139（2012）-21--01

I. Introduction：

Information Structure （IS） concerns structural and semantic properties of utterances reflecting their communicative intentions and their relation to discourse context. The study of information structure within texts was instituted by scholars of the Prague School. It was Halliday who brought many of the insights developed by the Prague scholars to the Western world. This paper attempts to outline Halliday’s point of view in spoken English firstly， then analyze the syntactic realization of information structure in written English.

II. Information Structure and Syntactic Form

2.1 The Definition of Given and New information

Given information is the information that the sender thinks the receiver already knows is given information. While New information is the information that the sender thinks the receiver doesn’t already know is new information. Most clauses also include information that is the focus of the speaker’s message， information that is considered new.

2.2 Given / New information and syntactic form

Halliday（2000）produced characteristics of given / new， in terms of speaker-expectations. ‘Given’ information is specified as being treated by the speaker as ‘recoverable either anaphoric or situational’ and ‘new’ information is said to be focal ‘not in the sense that it cannot have been previously mentioned， although it is often the case that it has not been， but in the sense that the speaker presents it as not being recoverable from preceding discourse. It has often been observed that， in English， new information is characteristically introduced by indefinite expressions and subsequently referred to by definite expressions.

III. Fundamental Principles in Organizing the Structure of Information

Above is the analysis on information structure from intonational and syntactic forms， then what kind of rules or principles should we follow in the arrangement of information？

3.1From Given information to New information

Generally speaking， a typical discourse proceeds roughly as follows：

Given→New. →Given→New. → Given→New.

3.2 From the definite constituent to the indefinite constituent

We can use the term “the definite constituent ” to express the phrase with the definite article which is used to indicate the old information. And use another term “the indefinite constituent” to express the phrase with the indefinite article which is used to indicate the new information. Quirk Greenhaum had been said “The bus was in front of a red sports car” is more acceptable than “ a red sports car was behind the bus”. The main reason is that the starting point of the former sentence is given information which has the definite article. So their relationship can be expressed by following：

The definite constituent → the definite article → Given information The indefinite constituent → the indefinite article→ New information

3.3 The principle of end-focus and end-weight

End-focus means the new information or the most important element（s） in the new information are arranged at the end of the clause. It can help to distinguish between the important and sub-important information and to choose the proper structure to express ideas. End-weight indicates that a sentence is arranged in the rule the constituent with “weight” is put at the end of the clause.Generally speaking， the weight of a constituent may be determined by the number of syllable or the complexity of grammar structure. End-weight principle is another useful rule. In communication it can help to achieve a natural effect for a listener and keep balance in a sentence.

e.g. Mary’s wanting to tell everybody what to do annoyed me.

I was annoyed by Mary wanting to tell everybody what to do.

We can find the former sentence is unnatural because it violates the End-weight principle. At the same time the principle can help to choose the sentence structure and arrange the sentence constituents

e.g. Until she came back from school， I waited.

I waited until she came back from school.

In this example the former sentence violates the principle so the beginning part is too heavy and the ending part is too light. So the second sentence is more acceptable.

Both End-focus and End-weight principle are important for organizing information. They are all for emphasis in expressing information.

IV. Conclusion

Through the analysis of information structure in former part， we can draw a conclusion about the characteristics and basic principles of information structure. Firstly， in spoken discourse information takes the form as the tone group to express meaning； and tone nucleus （usually signaled internationally by a falling tone） can be used to emphasize the new information. Secondly， discourse usually goes from the Given to the New information； from the definite constituent to the indefinite constituent. And end-focus and end-weight principle also take into consideration because they can help to achieve a better communication. So both in speech or written English form， if we can follow the three fundamental principles， we can arrange our information very well and make our expression more natural and acceptable in order to achieve a better linguistic effect.

References：

[1]、 Gillian Brown George Yule. Discourse Analysis [M]. Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press， 2000.

[2]、 Halliday， M.A.K. An introduction to Functional Grammar [M]. Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press， 2000.