Information Structure: The Impact of Pragmatic Focus Categories on Word Ordering in the El Tarf Dialect of Algerian Arabic

Abstract

The study examines how word order variations in the El Tarf dialect (Arabic dialect spoken in east Algeria) are affected by information structure. All participants are from El Tarf. The data is collected through an Answer/Question test. Following Lambrecht (1994). The paper’s goal is to investigate how word processing varies per the pragmatic readings of Focus categories namely, Argument-Focus (identifying a new referent, the subject), Predicate-Focus (commenting on a topic), and Sentence-Focus (presenting a new situation). The findings reveal that these categories influence how constituents are organized, processed, and interpreted. In Argument-Focus, speakers prefer identifying new referents through marked narrow Focus (non-canonical constructions, namely VSO, VOS, OVS, and OSV). Meanwhile, the Predicate-Focus needs an unmarked SVO order, a VO order with an unaccented topic (subject) is also used. The Sentence-Focus is unmarked. The results also show that word order within the Argument-Focus is more flexible compared to Predicate-Focus and Sentence-Focus constructions.