The Expression of Information Structure

European and US linguists explore information structure as the form of information rather than its content in Chinese, English, French, Georgian, Hungarian, and Japanese. They also consider the empiri

This book provides linguists with a clear, critical, and comprehensive overview of theoretical and experimental work on information structure. Leading researchers survey the main theories of informati

This book, first published in 1996, is a concise yet fully informative coverage of the structure and function of genes. It describes DNA and how it replicates, how DNA is transcribed and translated into proteins, the organisation of genes in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, the control of gene expression and the role of retroviruses and oncogenes in cancer. There are additional discussions of gene families, genes and the immune systems and mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes. This is a third edition of a successful undergraduate text. It has been extensively updated, particularly in regard to advances in our understanding of replication and transcription.

This book, first published in 1996, is a concise yet fully informative coverage of the structure and function of genes. It describes DNA and how it replicates, how DNA is transcribed and translated into proteins, the organisation of genes in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, the control of gene expression and the role of retroviruses and oncogenes in cancer. There are additional discussions of gene families, genes and the immune systems and mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes. This is a third edition of a successful undergraduate text. It has been extensively updated, particularly in regard to advances in our understanding of replication and transcription.

In many languages, the objects of transitive verbs are either marked by grammatical case or agreement on the verb, or they remain unmarked: this is differential object marking. This book is a cross-linguistic study of how differential object marking is affected by information structure, the structuring of the utterance in accordance with the informational value of its elements and contextual factors. Marked objects tend to be associated with old information or information that the sentence is about, while unmarked objects tend to express new information. The book also sheds light on grammatical patterning in languages with differential object marking: in some languages marked and unmarked objects have identical grammatical properties, whereas in other languages marked objects are more active in syntax. Finally, it provides a theory of the historical changes that lead to the emergence of various patterns of differential object marking.

In many languages, the objects of transitive verbs are either marked by grammatical case or agreement on the verb, or they remain unmarked: this is differential object marking. This book is a cross-linguistic study of how differential object marking is affected by information structure, the structuring of the utterance in accordance with the informational value of its elements and contextual factors. Marked objects tend to be associated with old information or information that the sentence is about, while unmarked objects tend to express new information. The book also sheds light on grammatical patterning in languages with differential object marking: in some languages marked and unmarked objects have identical grammatical properties, whereas in other languages marked objects are more active in syntax. Finally, it provides a theory of the historical changes that lead to the emergence of various patterns of differential object marking.

Trends in Linguistics is a series of books that publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks as well as studies that provide new insights by building brid

The 2005 Workshop, published as volume 1061 of the Annals, focused on testicular cell dynamics and brought an influx of new information into the field of male reproduction. Several laboratories have b

This introduction to information structure discusses a wide range of phenomena on the syntax-information structure interface. It examines whether information structure maps onto syntax, and if so how

This book presents some of the most recent, novel and fascinating examples of transcriptional and posttranscriptional control of gene expression in plants and, where appropriate, provides comparison t

Why do speakers of all languages use different grammatical structures under different communicative circumstances to express the same idea? Professor Lambrecht explores the relationship between the structure of the sentence and the linguistic and extra-linguistic context in which it is used. His analysis is based on the observation that the structure of a sentence reflects a speaker's assumption about the hearer's state of knowledge and consciousness at the time of the utterance. This relationship between speaker assumptions and formal sentence structure is governed by rules and conventions of grammar, in a component called 'information structure'. Four independent but interrelated categories are analysed: presupposition and assertion, identifiability and activation, topic, and focus.

This book reconsiders the linguistic notion of emphasis. For many, the concept of emphasis is confined to information structure. However, our understanding of the grammatical reflexes of emphasis is o

The present monograph develops a versatile and profound mathematical perspective of the Wright--Fisher model of population genetics. This well-known and intensively studied model carries a rich and be

Information structure, or the way the information in a sentence is 'divided' into categories such as topic, focus, comment, background, and old versus new information, is one of the most widely debated topics in linguistics. This volume incorporates exciting work on the relationship between syntax and information structure. The contributors are united in rejecting accounts that assume designated syntactic positions associated with specific information-structural interpretations, and aim instead to derive information-structural conditions on word order and other phenomena from the way syntax and syntax-external systems interact. Beyond this shared aim, the authors of the various chapters advocate a number of approaches, based on different types of data (syntactic, semantic, phonological/phonetic) from a range of languages. The book is aimed at specialists in syntax and/or information structure, as well as students and linguists in related fields keen to familiarise themselves with curre

There are a multitude of UN legal instruments which pertain to the rights of freedom of expression and information, and this book is the first to comprehensively map them and their function. It details the chequered history of both of these rights within the UN system and evaluates the suitability of the system for overcoming contemporary challenges and threats to the rights. Leading scholars address key issues, such as how the rights to freedom of expression and information can come into conflict with other human rights and with public policy goals, such as counter-terrorism. The book's institutional focus comprises five international treaties, UNESCO and the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression. Relevant for academics, lawyers, policy-makers and civil society actors, it also examines how new communication technologies have prompted fresh thinking about the substance and scope of the rights to freedom of expression and information.

Information structure, or the way the information in a sentence is 'divided' into categories such as topic, focus, comment, background, and old versus new information, is one of the most widely debated topics in linguistics. This volume incorporates exciting work on the relationship between syntax and information structure. The contributors are united in rejecting accounts that assume designated syntactic positions associated with specific information-structural interpretations, and aim instead to derive information-structural conditions on word order and other phenomena from the way syntax and syntax-external systems interact. Beyond this shared aim, the authors of the various chapters advocate a number of approaches, based on different types of data (syntactic, semantic, phonological/phonetic) from a range of languages. The book is aimed at specialists in syntax and/or information structure, as well as students and linguists in related fields keen to familiarise themselves with curre

Information Structure and Syntactic Change in the History of English is the first book to apply information structure as it relates to language change to a corpus-based analysis of a wide range of fea

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

In this book leading scholars provide state-of-the-art overviews of approaches to the formal expression of information structure in natural language and its interaction with general principles of hum

In this volume, Luis Li??pez sheds new light on information structure and makes a significant contribution to work on grammatical operations in the Minimalist Program. Through a careful analysis of di

In this volume, Luis Lopez sheds new light on information structure and makes a significant contribution to work on grammatical operations in the Minimalist Program. Through a careful analysis of disl

A group of authors containing both leading authorities and young researchers addresses a number of issues of contrastiveness, polarity items and exhaustivity, quantificational expressions and the impl

This book adopts a new approach to a major area of syntax - the way in which adjectives are bound together with other words in phrases or sentences.

Gupton presents students, academics, and researchers with his research into a quantitative and qualitatively based clausal word order for the Iberian Penninsula language of Galician, drawing from his

This critical essay by Mendis (Munich Intellectual Property Law Center) analyzes the current issues surrounding the contradictory values of copyright law and the freedom of expression and the right to

Linguists, all but one from Germany or Scandinavia, contribute to the growing discussion about the role of information structure in language change, and operational methods that can be applied to corp

In this book, Nomi Erteschik-Shir develops a new theory of focus structure, integrating insights from syntax, semantics, phonology and pragmatics. She explores the role of focus structure in grammar, examining the interface between focus structure and syntax, the semantics of focus structure and the intonation associated with it. Dr Shir defines a grammatical level of f-structure (focus structure) which is an annotated s-structure in which topic and focus constituents are marked. F-structure feeds both PF (Phonological Form) and semantics and is sensitive to lexical information. Dr Shir argues that f-structure and not LF (Logical Form) is the input to a semantic rule of predication. One of the major results of Dr Shir's analysis is that wh-movement turns out to be subject to the same constraint which accounts for anaphora and other subject–object asymmetries.

In the last decade, the notions of topic and focus have come to play an increasingly relevant role in theoretical linguistics. Although these notions are often taken for granted, they are still poorly

Drawing on real-life cases from a wide range of industries, a sophisticated but accessible guide to business deals, designed to maximize value for any party to a transaction. Business transactions take widely varying forms--from multibillion-dollar corporate mergers to patent licenses to the signing of an all-star quarterback. Yet every deal shares the same goal, or at least should: to maximize the joint value created and to distribute that value among the parties. Building on decades of experience teaching and advising on business deals, Michael Klausner and Guhan Subramanian show how to accomplish this goal through rigorous attention to designing incentives, conveying information, and specifying parties' rights and obligations. Deals captures the range of real-life transactional complexities with case studies covering Microsoft's acquisition of LinkedIn, Scarlett Johansson's contract dispute with Disney over the release of Black Widow, litigation surrounding LVMH's pandemic-disrupted

What do speakers of a language have to know, and what can they 'figure out' on the basis of that knowledge, in order for them to use their language successfully? This is the question at the heart of Construction Grammar, an approach to the study of language that views all dimensions of language as equal contributors to shaping linguistic expressions. The trademark characteristic of Construction Grammar is the insight that language is a repertoire of more or less complex patterns – constructions – that integrate form and meaning. This textbook shows how a Construction Grammar approach can be used to analyse the English language, offering explanations for language acquisition, variation and change. It covers all levels of syntactic description, from word-formation and inflectional morphology to phrasal and clausal phenomena and information-structure constructions. Each chapter includes exercises and further readings, making it an accessible introduction for undergraduate students of ling