FRONTING AND INVERSION to structure information: INFORMATIONALLY PROMINENT POSITION in English clause

Abstract

The paper aims to investigate the grammatical aspects of fronting and inversion in an English clause to determine the informationally prominent position. The criteria to develop a sentence structure are old and new information, context, modality, communicative dynamism, the relation between the Subject and the Predicate, a link with what has gone before, highlighting a constituent, and contrast between constituents. The information value of a lexical unit affects its position within a clause: the constituent with the highest information value occupies an informationally prominent position. Fronting is typically regulated by the Given-Before-New Principle. The informationally prominent position in fronting is the clause-initial position, followed by the Subject. The grammatical functions of fronted units are Direct Object, Indirect Object, Complement, Adjunct, and Subject. The rationale behind optional inversion is to highlight constituents. The Subject can be placed in the final position to make it informationally prominent. A long Subject is moved to the end of the clause in concord with the Principle of End Weight. The dynamics of other information processing concerns can override the Principle of End Weight and the Given-Before-New Principle. Fronting and inversion contribute to the non-propositional meaning.