Information Structure in Spoken English
A Systemic Functional Linguistics View
Seiten
2026
University of Toronto Press (Verlag)
978-1-4875-6644-9 (ISBN)
University of Toronto Press (Verlag)
978-1-4875-6644-9 (ISBN)
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This book revises Halliday's framework on information structure, challenging its foundations and proposing an updated model that reflects language as a complex social semiotic practice.
In a series of publications in the 1960s culminating in the 1967 book Intonation and the Grammar of English and the three articles Notes on Transitivity and Theme, Halliday proposed a system of information structure. Tonic items were presented as New or as if they were not recoverable from the context and cotext. Post tonic items were Given or recoverable. The status of pre-tonic items was ambiguous and needed to be considered in context.
Halliday’s view has proven to be reliable over the past 50 years but this book aims to revise it. The book argues that Halliday’s system was premised on two views both of which have been questioned over the years. The first is that Halliday’s notion of recoverability was influenced by Shannon and Weaver’s mathematical theory of information predictability where information can be encoded in terms of bits which are transmitted from source A to source B. This is not how SFL theory sees language functioning. Languaging is not simply the transmitting of information but rather a social semiotic practice which interactants deploy to affiliate with others while pursuing their individual needs. Secondly the binary division of information as either New (1 bit) or Given (0 bit) has been questioned in recent years by work which has looked at presuppositions and implications. In addition to these issues the book argues that Halliday’s definition blurs the important distinction between referentiality and identification. The book concludes by presenting an updated Hallidayan model which is sensitive to the above issues.
In a series of publications in the 1960s culminating in the 1967 book Intonation and the Grammar of English and the three articles Notes on Transitivity and Theme, Halliday proposed a system of information structure. Tonic items were presented as New or as if they were not recoverable from the context and cotext. Post tonic items were Given or recoverable. The status of pre-tonic items was ambiguous and needed to be considered in context.
Halliday’s view has proven to be reliable over the past 50 years but this book aims to revise it. The book argues that Halliday’s system was premised on two views both of which have been questioned over the years. The first is that Halliday’s notion of recoverability was influenced by Shannon and Weaver’s mathematical theory of information predictability where information can be encoded in terms of bits which are transmitted from source A to source B. This is not how SFL theory sees language functioning. Languaging is not simply the transmitting of information but rather a social semiotic practice which interactants deploy to affiliate with others while pursuing their individual needs. Secondly the binary division of information as either New (1 bit) or Given (0 bit) has been questioned in recent years by work which has looked at presuppositions and implications. In addition to these issues the book argues that Halliday’s definition blurs the important distinction between referentiality and identification. The book concludes by presenting an updated Hallidayan model which is sensitive to the above issues.
Gerard O’Grady is a professor in the School of English, Communication, and Philosophy at Cardiff University.
1. An Outline of a Theory of Information Structure
2. Theme and Topic: What They are and What They Do
3. The Prosodic Realisation of Given and New Information
4. Is Information Binary?
5. From Initial to Target State: The Dynamic Unfolding of Propositions
6. Information Structure in the Wild
| Erscheinungsdatum | 28.01.2025 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | Key Concepts in Systemic Functional Linguistics |
| Verlagsort | Toronto |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 178 x 254 mm |
| Gewicht | 1 g |
| Themenwelt | Schulbuch / Wörterbuch ► Wörterbuch / Fremdsprachen |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Sprachwissenschaft | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-4875-6644-1 / 1487566441 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-4875-6644-9 / 9781487566449 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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Buch | Softcover (2025)
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CHF 19,55
