Information Structure of Sentences in English and Persian

Abstract

The project Information structure in language acquisition studies the linguistic realization of information structure and its acquisition by children and adults in a variety of languages. The project examines the development of the relationship between semantic/pragmatic functions (topic, focus, given, new, contrast) and corresponding formal devices. Among the various means which are typically used to encode information structure, priority will be given to the study of word order, intonation, pronominal, and particles. Although texts produced by (very) advanced Persian learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) may be perfectly grammatical, they often feel distinctly non-native. Persian, as a verb-second language, makes separate positions available for discourse linking and abruptness-topics. A side-effect of this L1 interference is the underuse of special focusing constructions in English, like the stressed-focus itself.