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# From information structure, topic and focus, to theme in Biblical Hebrew

**Authors:** Sebastiaan Jonathan Floor · **Year:** 2004 · **Venue:** PhD dissertation, Stellenbosch University (SUNScholar) **Link:** [scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/1270](https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/1270) · not in the library (download refused, HTTP 429, 2026-10-17) · **Licence:** free to read, no CC licence — summary only

[**3** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W2144534909) openalex · 2026-10-19[**5** citations in our library](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/cited-by/hbo-2004-floor-information-structure-topic-focus-theme/) of the 140673 papers whose bibliographies we read[SUNScholar (Stellenbosch University)](https://openalex.org/S4306400300)

- [Publisher's page](https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/1270)
- [PDF](https://scholar.sun.ac.za/bitstreams/a3a91ad8-5796-4e39-bd19-0cd4367e01b0/download)
- [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W2144534909)

**Authors (1)**

1. [Sebastiaan Jonathan Floor](https://openalex.org/A5024613154) h 1 · 3 citations · 3 works

Citations and author metrics from openalex (2026-10-19); authors with the same name are not always told apart.

## What it is about

**Not read: the PDF could not be fetched.** From the title and the dissertation's known place in the literature (it is a standard reference on Hebrew information structure, built on Lambrecht's theory): Floor distinguishes topic (what a clause is about) from focus (the new, asserted part), uses Lambrecht's three focus types (predicate focus, argument focus, sentence focus), and explains the pre-verbal position in Hebrew as the slot for a topic switch or for a narrow (argument) focus. He then builds up from clause topics to the *theme* of a stretch of text. Check every point against the text.

## Ideas

- I1. (to check) For every Torah clause with a constituent before the finite verb, label the fronted item as topic switch (it was mentioned before and the subject changes) or argument focus (new or contrastive); compute the two shares.
- I2. (to check) Add Lambrecht's focus types as a column in `prag.tsv`: predicate focus for the default VS clause, argument focus for X-V with a contrast, sentence focus for presentational clauses (וְהִנֵּה, וַיְהִי …).
- I3. (to check) A paragraph "theme" as the most frequent topic referent across its clauses; compare with Masoretic paragraph division.

## For Mova

I1–I2 apply to `tools/macula/src/prag.rs` (a new column) and to [Syntax: the clause and the sentence](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/hbo/08-syntax/) (word order) and `09-discourse.md`; I3 to the paragraph section of `09-discourse.md`. Re-read once the PDF is in.

## Cite

The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work.

```
@inproceedings{floor2004information,
  title = {{From information structure, topic and focus, to theme in Biblical Hebrew}},
  author = {Floor, Sebastiaan Jonathan},
  booktitle = {SUNScholar (Stellenbosch University)},
  year = {2004},
  url = {https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/1270}
}
```

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