Information Structure: The Syntax-Discourse Interface

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. The topics covered include definitions of topic and focus, architectures of grammar, information structure, word order, the lexicon and information structure interface, and cognitive aspects of information structure. This book will appeal to graduate students of syntax and semantics in departments of linguistics, philosophy, and cognitive science.

Nomi Erteschik-Shir is Associate Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics at Ben-Gurion University, Israel. Her publications include The Dynamics of Focus Structure (1997) and The Syntax of Aspect (2005) co-edited with Tova Rapoport. She is currently working on a book with Tova Rapoport on the lexicon-syntax interface, The Atoms of Meaning.