Givenness is a very crucial discourse notion. Apart from being the condition of use imposed on quite a few linguistic forms (definite NP's, presuppositions, anaphoric expressions, gaps, etc.), it can be correlated with specific discourse functions. Giveness markers indicate to the addressee that he has to retrieve some information from memory. Moreover, these markers are specialized as to memory type, so that addressee is instructed where to search for the entity. However, we cannot claim one unique function for all Given material. Specifically, Given NP's are used to form successful acts of referring. Given VP's create local cohesive ties. Given clauses guide the addressee as to the relevance of the main assertion it is attached to. Whole Given utterances are presented in order to persuade the addressee to accept other speaker's assertions.

The notion of Givenness, as I define it, functions in linguistic analysis of natural languages on two levels. First, on the level of strictly linguistic phenomena, it serves as a condition of use imposed on very many linguistic forms (e. g, definite NP's, presuppositions, anaphoric expressions, gaps, and special sentence adverbials and particles [see Ariel 1985]). Second, apart from being a very useful technical tool for accounting for grammatical phenomena, it is, as I will demonstrate below, a very crucial discourse notion. Motivated by general cognitive principles, it is correlated with specific discourse functions. The purpose of this paper is to testify to the last claim. However, before diving into Givenness discoursive functions (3 below), I begin by defining Givenness (1), and by classifying Givenness Markers into three main types (2).