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Inlinguistics,givenness is the degree to which a speaker assumes certain contextual information of a topic ofdiscourse is already known to the listener. The speaker thus considers it unnecessary to provide further contextual information through an expression's linguistic properties (e.g. its syntactic form or position, or its patterns of stress and intonation).[1] A given contextual information in a discourse is assumed to be known by the addressee in the moment ofutterance, therefore a given expression must be known from prior discourse.[2]
Givenness is marked by the absence of emphasis or detailed explanations. For example, when informing a close friend of having taken a long-considered action, one might simply say "I did it!" The givenness of the action which "it" refers to results from previously discussing the action. In that utterance, the stress would not fall on "it," but on "did." This example may be contrasted when the nature of the action is new information, such as "I did a cartwheel!" In this case, theobject ofdid— the nouncartwheel— will receive the emphasis.
In literature,Prince (1981) distinguishes between three different kinds of Givenness:[3]
Definition byKrifka (2008):[4]
A feature X of an expression α is a Givenness feature if X indicates whether the denotation of α is present in the CG [(Common Ground)] (see below) or not, and/or indicates the degree to which it is present in the immediate CG.
This definition allows two different interpretations of givenness: givenness may be either a categorical feature (given vs. not given), or a scale that expresses the degree of discourse salience.
Definition byKratzer andSelkirk (2018):[2]
An expression α is Given in a context C if there is a discourse referent (individual, property, proposition) in C that entails [[α]] O, C.
Entailment describes the relation between expressionα and expressionβ when one of the following conditions applies:[2]
Co-reference is one of the two semantic relations that express Givenness.[1] Formally, references α and β both refer to the same entity (the referent): α,β ∈ De, α = β.[2] Apronoun(α) usually identifies anoun phrase that has been mentioned(β) in a prior context and (α). Examples of:[2]
Alternatively, for non-referential α and β (e.g.predicates,quantifiers), α is given if the meaning of α and β are extensionally identical orα is ahypernym ofβ. Formally, α,β ∈ Dt, and α=0 or β=1.[2]
Extensional Identity occurs when an expression α is identical with a prior mentioned expression β, which makes α given.
Ahypernym α of another item β is when the meaning of α includes β as a subcategory, making item α given:
X: I broughtcarrots (β) to the picnic.
Y: But I don't like [vegetables]Given(α).
However, if instead β includes α, there ishyponymy, and the hyponym(α) is considered to be not given:
X: I put somevegetables (β) in the soup.
Y: Oh I hatecarrots (α). I hope you didn't put any inside.
Propositional Identity occurs when the proposition(α) is given because it is identical with the proposition(β) and proposition(β) is true.
a. Did you hear thatOtto went to Russia (β)?
b. I can't believe that [he went to Russia]Given(α).
Asymmetric Entailment occurs when the proposition(α) is given because the proposition(α) is always true when the proposition(β) is true.
a. Did you hear thatOtto went to Russia?
b. I can't believe[that he left]Given(α).
Givenness can be expressed byanaphoric expressions,deletion, orword order.[4]
Anaphoric expressions indicate the status of their denotations.[4] Anaphoric expressions include personal pronouns, clitics and person inflections, demonstratives, and definite articles as well as indefinite articles that indicate a non-given referent.[4]
a.The crowd approached the gate. The guards were AFRAID of [the women]Given.[1]
b.The children were up late. I'm reluctant to WAKE [the boys]Given.[1]
c.John ate garlic bread. Then[he]Given kissed Mary.
Decantation is a form ofprosodic reduction.
a. Ten years after John inherited an old farm, he SOLD [the shed]Given[4]
Herethe shed is decanted because it is referring to the prior mentionedfarm. Decantation is conditioned by Common Ground Management and can be seen as presuppositional because itexpresses a presupposition of a situationally salient antecedent of a particular sort.[1]
Decantation can also occur in indefinitenoun phrases:
a. If John paints a hot dog, Sam will eat [a hot dog]Given.
Decantation can occur on afocused constituent that is given at the same time, where it does not bear the pitch accent but functions as afocus withonly :[1]
a. X: Everyone already knew that Mary only eats VEGETABLES.
Y: If even PAUL knew that Mary only eats [vegetables]Given, then he should have suggested a different RESTAURANT.
Deletion is an extreme form of reduction.[4]
a. Bill went to Greenland, and Mary did _ too.[4]
In this example, one can find the deletion of the VPwent to Greenland.
In the double object construction, given constituents precede new constituents:[4]
a. Bill showed the boy a girl.
*Bill showed a boy the girl.
*Bill showed the girl a boy.[4]
Common Ground (CG) inlinguistics is the shared knowledge between participants indiscourse. It is a set of propositions and entities that are known to both speakers, and is updated during the discourse.[1] Common Ground can further be divided into
Two individuals who spend a lot of time together or have many shared experiences can more easily latch onto each other's givenness in their discourse. However, when that phenomenon is relied upon in future or ongoing conversations, deficits in information can begin to develop, and as a result, it becomes difficult to assess givenness in the context of new conversations.