Universal #299

Legacy number: 299

 Number  298
 Original  In all languages: if there is no category definiteness/indefiniteness, then the change of the word order is used as a way of distinguishing the “given” (closer to the beginning of the sentence) and the “new” (closer to its end).
 Standardized  IF there is no category of definiteness/indefiniteness, THEN word order is used for distinguishing 'given' (coming closer to the beginning of the sentence) and 'new' information (closer to its end).
 Keywords  definiteness, order, given, new
 Domain  syntax, pragmatics
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  unspecified
 Source  see Vardul’ 1969, referring to Uspensky

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Discussion
Notes
There are NEW before GIVEN (or Topic Last) lgs, though not plenty.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
There are NEW before GIVEN (or Topic Last) lgs, though not plenty.