DISCOURSE ANALYSIS: The Identification of the Manifestation of Information Structure Structurally in the Text

Before learning about this analysis, lets first have the document that we analysed. The document is one of Barack Obama's speeches. Get the document or it here download here.

Information Structure (IS) is about how speaker/writers arrange or organize information in their massages. It deals with information against the message. Information Structure encodes which part of the sentence or utterance is more informative in relation to a particular context.

Information Structure of a sentence typically consists of two parts that is the GIVEN/OLD information and the NEW/FOCUS information. And these two parts achieved by the use of information flow principle which argue that begin with old/given information than the supply the new focus/new information.

Linguistically, Information Structure is realized by prosodic features, syntactic means and word. Syntactically, information structure can be realized through the following ways as used by President Obama in his speech.

Obama's Speech

1 PASSIVES

Barack Obama has used various passive constructions in conveying the intended message. Example:

a. I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you’ve bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices born by our ancestors. (PASSIVE).

The task before us, grateful for the task you’re bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices born by our ancestors humbles me to stand here today. (ACTIVE).

b. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of piece.

The underlined part of the passive sentence is GIVEN while the remaining part is NEW information.

The passive sentence above presents the information from given to new in such a way that the new information is heavier and complex than the old/given information to obey the Information Flow Principle, hence easy to comprehend. On the other hand, the active sentence would be difficult to comprehend due to the fact that it disobeys the Information Flow Principle, End Weight/End Focus Principles.

2.   EXISTENTIAL “there”.

Existential “there” is also called expletive “there” which always occur before a verb “be” to emphasis that someone/something exists. President Obama also used existential “there” in his speech. For example:

a.      Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions.

b.     Some who question the scale of our ambitions are there.

In the sentence a. above the underlined part is old/given information and the remaining part of it is the new/focus information. Sentence a. is easy to comprehend than sentence b. because it begin with the given/old information which is simple which is simple and not heavy ending with the new/focus information which is complex and heavier maintain the Information Flow Principle.

3.   ADVERBIAL CLAUSE

Adverbial clause is also seen in Obama’s speech for example:

a. At this moment, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true of our founding documents.

b.   On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

c.  Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill.

The underlined parts of the sentences above are adverbial clauses which present NEW/FOCUS information, and the remaining parts that are not underlined are independent clauses which present old/given information, because when the adverbial clause appears at the final position it presents new/focus information. On the other hand, if the adverbial clause could happen to appear at the initial position it could present old/given information.

4.   EXTRAPOSITION

Extraposition is the syntactic mechanism that changes word order in such a manner that a relatively heavy constituent appears to the right of its canonical/normal position.

Again in the speech President Barack Obama has used extraposition as seen in the following examples bellow:

a. It is precisely this spinty that must inhabit us all.

b. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break.

The canonical sentences can be

a. That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood.

b. When the levees break is the kindness to take in a stranger.

In the above sentences, the underlined parts of the sentence are extraposition in which the first sentence is the extraposed that-clause, while the second is extraposed wh-clause. The two sentences above conform to the Information Flow Principle, End-Weight/End-Focus Principles. Due to the fact that the new information is now is complex and heavier than the given information.

However, President Obama failed to conform to the Information Flow Principle to some extent since he began with the new information which seem to be complex and heavier ending with the given information which is simpler and not heavier, hence contradicting with the Information Flow Principle, for example:

          That we are in midst of the crisis is now well understood.

The underlined information is the NEW information and the rest information is the OLD information.

5.   DISLOCATION

This refers to the sentence structure in which a constituent which could be and argument of the clause occurs outside the clause boundaries either to its left or right. Furthermore, Barack Obama used dislocation in his speech. For example:

            But know this, America-they will be met.

                                       Topic            Focus

The underlined part of the sentence above is the topic of the sentence and the remained part in the right side of the topic is the focus (right dislocation). The right dislocation gives additional information about the topic making it complex and heavier, hence obey the Information Flow Principle.

6.   FRONTING

Fronting is also seen in the speech presented by Barack Obama as shown by the examples below:

a.      This is the journey we continue today.

b.      All these we can do, all these we will do.

The Canonical sentences can be:

a.       We continue today with this journey.

b.      All these we will do, all these we will do.

The underlined parts of the above sentences are old/given information and the remaining parts of the sentences are new/focus information. In these sentences the fronted information (old/given) information allow focus and cohesion which obeys the Information Flow Principle.

7.   CLEFTING

A cleft sentence is a complex sentence that has a meaning that could be expressed in a simple sentence. Clefting has been seen in the Obama’s speech where he used wh-clefting. For example:

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them.

The canonical sentences can be:

The ground has shifted beneath them is what the cynics fail to understand.

In sentence a. above (wh-clefting) breaks information in two parts in order to provide an extra focus to one focus of information, that is secondary and primary focus making the new information heavier and complex hence obeying the Information Flow Principle.

8.   INVERSION

This is the reversal of the normal word order for that the verb precedes the subject. This help with cohesion Information Flow Principle, and placement of focus. President Barack Obama’s speech used inversion in some areas, for example:

a.      For everywhere we look, here is the work to be done.

The canonical sentence can be:

      b. There is the work to be done for everywhere we look.

In the above sentences, sentences a. is inversion in which the verb precedes the subject making the new/focus information complex and heavier, hence obeying the Information Flow Principle.

Generally, from the Obama’s the Information Structure Principles have been observed structurally in order to convey their intended message to the listeners. However, the speech has limited inversion sentence constructions. This might be due to the reason that President Barack Obama do not prefer to use inversions. The speech is therefore, easy to comprehend as it observe Information Flow Principle (End Focus/End Weight Principles) to the large extent.