FLaCIS - First Language Acquisition of Information Structure: the acquisition of topic and focus in French.

Information Structure (IS) concerns the way in which sentences are integrated into the information flow between speaker and hearer, it is a tool that guides speakers in the way they express their thoughts, and has an influence on the ordering of constituents in the clause. Although IS was already introduced in linguistics in the 60s, it is only in the last few decades that systematic research on IS has started. However, the way in which IS (function) interacts with syntax (form) is still poorly understood, as well as the place of IS in language and human cognition. The goal of this research project is to investigate the development, in French first language acquisition, of the relationship between the semantic/pragmatic functions of 'topic' and 'focus' and the corresponding formal devices, on the basis of linguistic and psycholinguistic methods.

Keywords:First language acquisition, Syntax, Focus, Dislocation, Cleft sentences, Topic, Information structure

Disciplines:Language studies, Literary studies