Sentences in Texts: A Valediction for Sentence Topic

Abstract

This paper considers the role of sentence topics in the information structure of text segments. In particular, I ask whether structural sentence topics contribute systematically to the local information structure of a text segment. I will state and test the hypothesis of local aboutness. According to this hypothesis sentences in text segments are “about” the referents of their topic NP’s. The hypothesis is an interesting one because it would entail that structurally identifiable sentence constituents have a consistent role in text structure. However, the hypothesis cannot be maintained: paraphrase and other tests show that topics do not play a consistent role in the information structure of text segments. Indeed, there is an indeterminate relation between structurally determined topics and local aboutness. Therefore I conclude that grammatically determined sentence topics are not consistently relevant in the information structure of text segments.¹

Valediction: An act or instance of bidding farewell (Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language).