Information structure as information-based partition

Abstract

While the Information Structure (IS) is most naturally interpreted as 'structure of information', some may argue that it is structure of something else, and others may object to the use of the word 'structure'. This paper focuses on the question of whether the informational component can have structural properties such that it can be called 'structure'. The preliminary conclusion is that, although there are some vague indications of structurehood in it, it is perhaps better understood to be a representation that encodes a finite set of information-based partitions, rather than structure.

The Rich Agreement Hypothesis Rehabilitated

“…This indicates that the subject must realize old information: the more topical the subject, the more grammatical the sentence. As is fairly well-established, information-structurally, a topic needs to precede a focus (see Prince 1981, Reinhart 1981, Vallduví 1992, Lambrecht 1994, Haji?ová, Partee, and Sgall 1998, Tomioka 2007, Neeleman and Van de Koot 2008. Thus, in order to be topical, the subject must move across the focused adverb, by adjoining to IP again or by moving to the specifier of a higher functional projection, presumably some TopP.…”

The Absence of Intervention Effects in Amharic: Evidence for a Non-Structural Approach

“…While information structure may be sensitive to hierarchical notions, such as constituenthood, this study argues against the relevance of such notions for intervention effects. We are thus justified in describing information structural theories in this context as non-structural or linear (see alsoTomioka 2008b).…”