WORKSHOP

The acquisition of information structure:

A developmental perspective on its syntax and interface properties

Organizer: Vincenzo Moscati
Invited Speakers: Luigi Rizzi (Université de Genève & Università degli Studi di Siena) & Adriana Belletti (Université de Genève & Università degli Studi di Siena)


In adult speakers, Information Structure is known to influence both syntactic and phonological phrasing, leading to dedicated word-orders and prosodic contours. Many recent developments in linguistic theory have been motivated by the need to integrate these three systems, and the result is now a better and more cohesive understanding of their interactions. In this sense, a layered organization of the CP-field (Rizzi 1997) and the identification of the cartography of functional projections in the left periphery of the clause, which encode discourse-related categories like Topic or Focus, has proven to be a useful tool to better characterize different types of constituent fronting in Romance Languages. This, combined with the identification of the distinct prosodic contours associated with specific discourse functions, provides a new vantage point to reconsider previous findings and raise new empirical questions.

The aim of this workshop is to bring together researchers interested in the study of information structure in children, specifically those aspects related to syntax and prosody. In a perspective of a cross-linguistic comparison, contributions from languages outside the Romance family are also welcome. The following is a non-exhaustive list of relevant topics: