The hidden logic of information structure conflicts

The present paper looks at the question of Information Structure (IS) confl icts, especially in the case of Figure and Ground assignment. It is observed that in typical uses in unmarked sentences, Figure-Ground assignment runs counter to the traditional notion of Information Structure. One of the main proposals of this study is that many cases of apparently problematic IS patterns are in fact the refl ection of a two-level IS organization of sentences, where an element can bear two opposite IS values. An attempt is made to point out an experiential grounding of this double-layer organization of IS. Finally, the case of possession is examined, whose interpretation is argued to derive from the reciprocal referencing of the possessor and possessum, possible thanks to the double-layer IS and Figure-Ground assignment reversal.