Bringing Information Structure to Universal Dependencies

Proceedings of the Ninth Workshop on Universal Dependencies (UDW 2026)

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to present a first attempt at annotating Information Structure roles in syntactic treebanks of the Universal Dependencies collection, discussing theoretical considerations and practical methodological questions while presenting our core annotation principles. We focus on constructions in which Topic or Focus is overtly marked through (morpho)syntactic means. The proposed annotation is illustrated using examples from five languages: Wolof, Japanese, Tundra Nenets, Hungarian, and Italian.