New / Given Information
Is this information new or already in the conversation?
Meaning
Whether a piece of information is being introduced, repeated, contrasted, assumed, resumed, or made prominent.
How to spot it
Ask whether the listener already has this information in the mental scene.
Examples
new|known|already mentioned|same one
a man... the man|this idea|that problem
A woman entered the room. The woman smiled.
Visual guide
Conversation state: 1 NEW A woman entered. -> add woman #1 2 GIVEN The woman smiled. -> reuse woman #1 Listener already has it.
One referent, many statuses: NEW: a woman GIVEN: the woman RESUMED: she / Ø CONTRAST: that woman Languages mark this by: article, order, stress, particle, pronoun, omission
Language View
In your native language
English tracks new and given information with articles, pronouns, stress, word order, and discourse structure.
A man entered. The man sat down.
a man/the man = new/given status
In your learning language
New/given information is often signaled by articles, pronouns, clitics, word order, and stress.
Compré un libro. El libro es interesante.
I bought a book. The book is interesting.
Learners may not use articles and pronouns to track whether information is new or already known.
Same block, different coding
Both languages use this block strongly, but they signal it differently. Focus on form changes, not only meaning.