Information Flow

In discourse-based grammatical theory, information flow is any tracking of referential information by speakers. Information may be new, just introduced into the conversation; given, already active in the speakers' consciousness; or old, no longer active. The various types of activation, and how these are defined, are model-dependent.

Information flow affects grammatical structures such as

  • word order (topic, focus, and afterthought constructions).
  • active, passive, or middle voice.
  • choice of deixis, such as articles; "medial" deictics such as Spanish ese and Japanese sore are generally determined by the familiarity of a referent rather than by physical distance.
  • overtness of information, such as whether an argument of a verb is indicated by a lexical noun phrase, a pronoun, or not mentioned at all.


Famous quotes containing the words information and/or flow:

    “When action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows unprofitable, sleep.”
    —Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929)

    “On the idle hill of summer,
    Sleepy with the flow of streams,”
    —A.E. (Alfred Edward)