VOL. 63, BOOK 1, PART B, 2025, pp. 141 – 167 Full text (En)
Author: Krasimir Spasov
Affiliation: American University in Bulgaria
Abstract
This paper examines existentials within the framework of information packaging and maps their distribution across the spoken discourse. Functionally, these constructions introduce discourse-new referents, shift topical focus, or repackage addressee-old information as discourse-new. Using Lambrecht’s (2001) model, the study illustrates how existentials encode sentence focus on the speaker’s side. To enrich the analysis, an additional concept that completes our understanding of the hearer’s side of the interpretive process, i.e. the presupposed focus, is proposed.
Key words: information packaging, information structure, existentials, topic, presupposed focus
