Visual Input, Auditory Input and Word Order

A variety of constructions in Colloquial Israeli Hebrew that serve an identifying or introductory discourse purpose are shown to display a noncanonical word order whereby the NP designating the name of the introduced entity does not occur in initial position even when it is the subject of the sentence. Such sentences are functional in a particular type of situational context, namely, where visual clues are not available. In cases where visual clues are available the nature of identification or introduction is significantly different, & canonical SVO (subject-verb-object) structures are evident. Prototypical instances discussed include the distinctions between radio & TV reports of ongoing sports events with respect to certain word-order options when introducing a player performing a particular maneuver. The TV-aired game serves as an instance of visual context whereas the radio-transmitted report obviously lacks the visual clues & manifests the relevant auditory context. It is shown that entities that one knows through visual clues act as though they were physically given & as such behave with respect to word-order determination as do other given entities, namely, favor initial position. However, entities mentioned in situational contexts characterized by auditory input but lacking visual clues function as new, ie, nongiven physically, & as such indeed favor noninitial, & sometimes even final position, in line with new entities elsewhere. The correlation between the explicit visual clues & physical givenness is substantiated by the fact that visual clues are perceived at a faster speed than auditory clues. The information perceived visually thus acts as though it were already given, the information expressed verbally does not. 22 References. AA