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11 - Information Structure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2023

Laura Wagner
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
Cecile McKee
Affiliation:
University of Arizona
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Summary

Chapter 11 opens by asking readers to imagine what different kinds of people likely know and don’t know. For example, everyone knows that things fall when you drop them. But details of social etiquette and childhood memories will vary across people. This exercise relates to the Maxim of Manner, which focuses on brevity, clarity, and orderliness for contributions to successful conversations. Information structure is central here: Learning is enhanced when learners meet given or familiar information before new or unfamiliar information. In other words, we build on what we already know. One reason that this point is critical to public engagement is that we compute meaning for words and sentences as we hear/read them. The Worked Example uses a demonstration in which we write people’s names in the International Phonetic Alphabet to compare two orders for presenting critical information. This chapter’s Closing Worksheet asks readers to write down an ideal interaction they want with the demonstrations they are developing and then to change the order of the elements around.

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Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • Information Structure
  • Laura Wagner, Ohio State University, Cecile McKee, University of Arizona
  • Book: How to Talk Language Science with Everybody
  • Online publication: 17 May 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108894227.012
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  • Information Structure
  • Laura Wagner, Ohio State University, Cecile McKee, University of Arizona
  • Book: How to Talk Language Science with Everybody
  • Online publication: 17 May 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108894227.012
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Information Structure
  • Laura Wagner, Ohio State University, Cecile McKee, University of Arizona
  • Book: How to Talk Language Science with Everybody
  • Online publication: 17 May 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108894227.012
Available formats
×