Seminar on Information Structure and Word Order Variation

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Seminar on Information Structure and Word Order
Variation Argument Reversal (Inversion
Passivization)
Gregory Ward Northwestern University Universidade
de Santiago de Compostela Departamento de
Filoloxía Inglesa 19 Xuño 2008
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Argument Reversal Type 1Inversion
(1) They have a great big tank in the kitchen,
and in the tank are sitting all of these pots.
Jeff Smith, Frugal Gourmet, 6/17/89
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Inversion
Like preposing, inversion requires a salient OP
unless its preposed constituent is locative. (2)
The Chief of Police has developed a viral
infection and may need to take an extended
sick leave. In even worse condition is the
mayor, who has been out for the past several
days with a very high fever.
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Non-Locative Inversion
Since the preposed PP is non-locative, an OP is
required (3) The Chief of Police has developed
a viral infection and may need to take an
extended sick leave. In a complete rage is the
mayor, who will have to cover for his absence.
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Locative Inversion
Locative inversion requires no OP, but it does
require a link (as with preposing) (4) There
are three ways to look at East State Street
Village, a low-income apartment complex in
Camden. None of them are pretty views. To the
west of the 23 brightly colored buildings flows
the Cooper River, a fetid waterway considered
one of the most polluted in New
Jersey. Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/7/84
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Inversion
What about the discourse-status and hearer-status
of the constituents of an inversion?
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Noncanonical-Word-Order

• Two types
• a single noncanonically positioned constituent
• two noncanonically positioned constituents.

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Number of Constituents
Inversions contain two noncanonically positioned
constituents (1) They have a great big tank in
the kitchen, and in the tank are sitting all of
these pots. Recall that preposings contain one
noncanonically positioned constitutent In that
tank, you will find all of the lobsters Ø.
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Birner Ward 1998

• Preposing moves familiar information to the front
  of the sentence.
• Postposing (there-sentences) moves unfamiliar
  information to the end of the sentence.
• When a single constituent is involved, the
  relevant information status constraint is
  absolute when two arguments are reversed, the
  information status constraint is relative.

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Table 1
Preposedargument (1) (Discourse- or Hearer-) Old
Postposedargument (1) (Discourse- or Hearer-) New
Argumentreversal (2) Preposed argument no newer than postposed argument
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Inversion
(1)a. They have a great big tank in the kitchen,
and in the tank are sitting all of these pots.
b. They have all of these pots in the
kitchen, and in a great big tank are sitting
all of the pots.
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Inversion

• For inversion, two questions arise
• Is it discourse-status or hearer-status that is
  relevant?
• How do we know the constraint is relative as
  opposed to absolute?

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Birner 1994

• Corpus study
• 1778 tokens of inversion
• 1290 with sufficient prior context to determine
  information status
• 714 tokens if inferrables are excluded

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Table 2
Initial
H-old/D-old H-old/D-new H-new/D-new
Final
30 0 0
100 5 6
438 30 105
H-oldD-old
H-oldD-new
H-newD-new
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Inversion
The only two cells that have no tokens are those
in which Discourse-New information precedes
Discourse-Old information.
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Inversion
In contrast, H-new information followed by H-old
information is felicitous (6) I had lunch at
Macys yesterday, and you wouldn't believe who
was there. Behind a cluster of microphones was
Hillary Clinton, holding another press
conference.
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Table 3
This becomes even clearer when you look only at
discourse-status
Initial
D-old D-new
Final
30 0
538 146
D-old D-new
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Inversion
The vast majority of the tokens contain
discourse-old information followed by
discourse-new information (7) Whats Hot, a
magazine published by General Foods for
children aged 4 to 14, is sent to households
that are known to be responsive to ad
promotions. The message from the sponsor is
subtle, with brand names worked into activities
such as games and quizzes. Accompanying the
magazine are cents-off coupons. Consumer
Reports, 6/89
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Inversion
Putting discourse-new information before
discourse-old information results in
infelicity A Hey, Bill, wheres the coffee
grinder? Our guests will probably want some
cappuccino after dinner. B On the kitchen
counter is the coffee grinder.
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Inversion
Notice that you also get D-old/D-old and
D-new/D-new tokens. But in the case of
D-old/D-old tokens, the more recently mentioned
(i.e., more familiar) information appears first.
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Examples
D-O/D-O (8) Yes, this is no ordinary general
election. Evans is a Democrat Daley is a
Democrat. Different Democrats have different
points of view about the city of Chicago and its
politics, Jackson noted. The war between
forces within the party continues, and within
our coalition. Standing in the middle of it
all is Jesse Jackson. Chicago Tribune, 3/6/89
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Examples
D-O/D-O (9)a. Each of the characters is the
centerpiece of a book, doll and clothing
collection. The story of each character is
told in a series of six slim books, each 12.95
hardcover and 5.95 in paperback, and in
bookstores and libraries across the country.
More than 1 million copies have been sold and
in late 1989 a series of activity kits was
introduced for retail sale. Complementing the
relatively affordable books are the dolls, one
for each fictional heroine and each with a
comparably pricey historically accurate
wardrobe and accessories Chicago Tribune,
1/4/90
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Examples
(9)b. Each of the characters is the centerpiece
of a book, doll and clothing collection. The
story of each character is told in a series of
six slim books, each 12.95 hardcover and 5.95
in paperback, and in bookstores and libraries
across the country.... Complementing the
relatively affordable dolls are the books, one
for each fictional heroine...
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Inversion
Thus, inversion an argument-reversing
construction imposes a relative, rather than an
absolute, requirement on the information status
of its constituents The preposed constituent
may not represent information that is newer
within the discourse than that represented by
the postposed constituent.
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Birner Ward 1998, revisited

• Preposing moves familiar information to the front
  of the sentence.
• Postposing moves unfamiliar information to the
  end of the sentence.
• When a single constituent is affected, the
  constraint is absolute when two arguments are
  reversed, its their relative information status
  that determines the ordering.

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Related Constructions?
What about other argument-reversing constructions
in English?
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Passives with by-phrases
The ball was hit by Sally. CWO Sally hit the
ball. ? an argument-reversing
construction Passives without by-phrases The
ball was hit. ? no argument reversal
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Passives with by-phrases
Passives with by-phrases are subject to the same
constraint as inversion The initial element
must represent information that is at least as
familiar within the discourse as that
represented by the final element.
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Passives with by-phrases
In other words, the subject NP must represent
information that is at least as familiar within
the discourse as that represented by the NP
within the by-phrase.
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Passives with by-phrases
(10)a. The mayors present term of office expires
Jan. 1. He will be succeeded by Ivan Allen
Jr.... Brown Corpus b. Ivan Allen
Jr. will take office Jan. 1. The mayor will be
succeeded by him.
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Passives with by-phrases
Again, its discourse-status, rather than
hearer-status, that is relevant consider a
passive with H-N/H-O status (11) A formula to
supply players for the new Minneapolis Vikings
and the problem of increasing the 1961
schedule to fourteen games will be discussed by
National Football League owners at a meeting at
the Hotel Warwick today. Brown Corpus,
discourse-initial
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Table 4
The discourse-status results for passives
(excluding inferrables)
Initial
D-old D-new
Final
32 0
70 37
D-old D-new
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Inversion PassivizationA Common Constraint
Inversion and passivization share a pragmatic
constraint The initial constituent must not
represent information that is less familiar
within the discourse than that represented by
the final constituent.
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Inversion vs. Passivization

• Syntactically, the two constructions are in
  complementary distribution
• Passivization applies to transitives, while
  inversion does not.
• Inversion applies to intransitives and copular
  clauses, while passivization does not.

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Inversion vs. Passivization
Passivization and inversion represent distinct
mechanisms for performing a single
information-packaging function in different
syntactic environments.
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Inferential relations in discourse
So, what about those inferrables?
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Inferrable Information
So far weve dealt with information that is
either clearly discourse-old or clearly
discourse-new, but along with Prince 1992, weve
left unresolved the issue of information that is
inferrable.
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Inferrable Information
That information which has not been explicitly
evoked from the prior discourse but which can be
inferred from previously evoked information.
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Inferrable Information as Discourse-Old
Information?
In inversion and passivization, inferrable
information has the same distribution as
discourse-old information.
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Examples
(12)a. She got married recently, and at the
wedding was the mother, the stepmother and
Debbie. conversation, 6/29/89 b.
Booked into the lounge at the Fremont Hotel,
Wayne and Larry did six shows a night, six
nights a week for five years. It was an
education that has lasted up to this day.
In the audience were hecklers and brawlers.
Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/16/83
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Examples
(13)a. After being closed for seven months, the
Garden of the Gods Club will have its gala
summer opening Saturday, June 3. Music for
dancing will be furnished by Allen Uhles and his
orchestra, who will play each Saturday during
June. Brown Corpus
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Examples
b. California Democrats this weekend will take
the wraps off a 1962 model statewide campaign
vehicle which they have been quietly assembling
in a thousand district headquarters, party
clubrooms and workers backyards. They seem
darned proud of it. And theyre confident that
the GOP, currently assailed by dissensions
within the ranks, will be impressed by the
purring power beneath the hood of this
grassroots- fueled machine. Brown Corpus
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Table 5 Inversion
Inferrables vs. discourse-old
Initial
Evoked Inferrable
Final
30 26
42 41
Evoked Inferrable
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Table 6 Inversion

Collapsing discourse-old and inferrable
Initial
D-old D-new
Final
139 0
1009 142
D-old D-new
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Table 7 Passivization
Collapsing discourse-old and inferrable
Initial
Final
D-old D-new
75 0
88 37
D-old D-new
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Inferrable Information
So, we can now classify inferrable information as
discourse-old with great confidence. But what
about hearer-status? Is inferrable information
hearer-new or hearer-old?
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Inferrable Information
We have a diagnostic to help us decide the
post-verbal position of existential
there-sentences is reserved for hearer-new
information. (14)a. There werent the funds
necessary for the project. Abbott 1992, ex.
31a
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Inferrable Information
b. The audience did not think much of the new
pastor, and what the new pastor thought of the
audience he did not dare at the time to say.
During the next weeks he looked over the
situation. First of all there was the parsonage,
an utterly impossible place for civilized people
to live in, originally poorly conceived,
apparently not repaired for years, with no
plumbing or sewage, with rat-holes and
rot.Brown Corpus
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Inferrable Information
c. If the farm is rented, the rent must be paid.
If it is owned, taxes must be paid, and if the
place is not free of mortgage, there will be
interest and payments on the principal to take
care of.Brown Corpus
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Inferrable Information
In a study of 149 existentials taken from the
Brown A Reportage Subcorpus, a trained coder
judged that in 38 (25.5) of the tokens the
postverbal NP represented inferrable
information.
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Inferrable Information
Lets recap where we are In preposing,
inversion, and passivization, inferrable
information patterns like discourse-old
information. However, in existential
there-sentences, it patterns like hearer-new
information.
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Inferrable Information
This suggests inferrable information is
discourse-old and hearer-new. But this is
exactly the empty cell in Princes framework
(which didnt consider inferrables)!
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Prince 1992, revisited
Hearer-old Hearer-new
Discourse-old Previously evoked Ø
Discourse-new Not evoked, but known Brand-new
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Redefining Discourse-Old
We can account for inferrable information and
solve the empty cell problem by extending our
notion of discourse-old information to include
information that is linked to information in the
prior discourse.
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Identity as an Inferential Relation
The link may be one of simple identity, which
also requires an inference of sorts (15)a. I
told the guy at the door to watch out, but the
idiot wouldnt listen. Evans 1981, ex. 6
b. With a degree in Physical Education,
Terri Lewis could be coaching a high school
volleyball team. Instead, this ranch wife and
mother has spent the last three years riding
and roping with three other women.... Cowgirl
Up!, Americas Horse, 2005
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Redefining Discourse-Old
So, in summary, the class of discourse-old
information is defined as information that is
inferentially linked to information in the prior
discourse. The inferential relation may or may
not be one of identity.
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Redefining Discourse-Old
Inferrables are discourse-old (linked to prior
discourse) but hearer-new (not previously known
to hearer).
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Some Inferential Relations

• Part/whole
• Type/subtype
• Temporal precedence
• Possession
• Entity/attribute
• Spatial proximity

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Table 8 Final Version!
Hearer-old Hearer-new
Discourse-old Evoked (inferentially linked, and known to hearer) Inferrable (inferentially linked, and not known to hearer)
Discourse-new Unused (not inferentially linked, but known to hearer) Brand-new (not inferentially linked, and not known to hearer)
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Inducing Inferences
For a bridging inferrable, which is hearer-new,
how does the hearer know to look for the
inferential relation (rather than taking the
entity to be brand-new)?
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Inducing Inferences
The bridging inferrable may serve to induce the
inference, via either its form (e.g. a definite)
or its position (noncanonical word order).
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Inducing Inferences
Use of a definite NP to induce the
inference (16) Mary took the picnic supplies
out of the trunk. The beer was warm.
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Inducing Inferences
(17) Last night I went out to buy the picnic
supplies. a. I decided to get beer
first. b. Beer I decided to get first. c. I
decided to get the beer first. d. The beer I
decided to get first. Only (a) is ambiguous as
to whether the beer is part of the picnic
supplies.
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Fin