LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS 8.1:343-372, 2007 2007-0-008-001-000207-1 Information Structure and Constituent Order in Tagalog ∗ Naonori Nagaya The University of Tokyo The goal of this paper is to spell out the way syntax and pragmatics interact with each other inside and outside the clause in Tagalog. Inside the clause, different constructions are employed to express different types of focus structure: a canonical construction for predicate focus and sentence focus, a cleft con- struction for argument narrow focus, and a fronting construction for adjunct narrow focus. In every case the clause-initial position is included in the actual fo- cus domain. Outside the clause, on the other hand, a topical/presupposed element is optionally preposed to the sentence-initial position called the left-detached posi- tion. It will be shown that this sentence-initial position is clearly distinguished from the clause-initial position. The traditionally recognized contrast between sentence and clause is indisputable and unequivocal in this language. Key words: Tagalog, information structure, focus structure, constituent order, cleft, fronting 1. Introduction This paper aims to elucidate aspects of the interplay between morphosyntax and information structure of Tagalog within the framework of Role and Reference Grammar with special reference to its theories of clause structure and information structure (Foley and Van Valin 1984, Van Valin 1993, Van Valin & LaPolla 1997, Van Valin 2005). ∗ An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2005 International Course and Conference on Role and Reference Grammar, held at Academia Sinica, Taipei, in June 2005 (Nagaya 2005). Many thanks to my consultants for Tagalog, who shared their precious native-speaker intuitions with me. Thanks, also, to Tooru Hayasi, Daphne Lindaya, Joe V. Lopresti, Yoshiki Nishimura, Ricardo Ma. Nolasco, Toshio Ohori, Masayoshi Shibatani, Tasaku Tsunoda, and Robert D. Van Valin Jr. for their indispensable comments and suggestions. I am also grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their eye-opening and detailed comments on this paper. Of course, responsibility for any errors is purely my own. Special thanks to Hsiu-chuan Liao for sending an electronic copy of her dissertation to me, to Elizabeth Zeitoun for her dedicated effort to edit this volume, and to Danilo Bv. Tuazon and Susie Tuazon for providing the hospitality and spiritual help that made this research possible. Lastly, I wish to acknowledge my gratitude to the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science for supporting this research financially.