Pragmatics and Syntax

Pragmatics and Syntax

1. The syntax of the language provides alternate ways of saying the same thing. Information structuring: the language provides a variety of means for achieving our ends of arranging material for specific effects in discourse.

   • Basic Distinctions
     • Given and new information
       • Given (or old) information is already known to the participants, having been “given” in the preceding discourse, while new information is not known to the hearer, being introduced into the discourse for first time. Given information may be evoked either textually or situationally or it may be inferrable.
     • Topic and comment.
       • The topic is what an utterance is about, its starting point, its center of attention, or the perspective from which it is viewed. It is usually the subject of the sentence. The comment is what is said about the topic; it is usually the predicate of a sentence.1 The usual situation is for the topic to be given and the comment to be new information.
     • Contrast
       • Information is in contrast if it is in opposition to another entity or is selected from a larger set of entities. Noun phrases in contrast may be linguistically marked by only and are typically expressed with stress.
     • Definite and indefinite
       • Information is definite if the referent of the noun phrase is familiar to the hearer, while it is indefinite if the referent is novel, or unfamiliar to the hearer. Proper 292 The Structure of Modern English nouns, pronouns, and nouns preceded by the definite article or demonstratives are usually definite; the speaker assumes that the hearer will be able to identify the referent. Nouns preceded by the indefinite article or any are usually indefinite; the speaker assumes that the hearer cannot identify the referent.
     • Specific, nonspecific, and generic
       • Information is specific if it denotes a particular entity in the real world, while it is nonspecific if it denotes no particular entity in the real world.