This paper investigates the information-packaging structures of Tanzanian
English in order to evaluate the universality of the given before new (GBN)
principle. Since Halliday (1967) observed that familiar information tends to
precede new information, GBN has been accepted as a ‘linguistic truism’
(Birner & Ward, 2006 p. 291) and rarely challenged. However, recent crosslinguistic
studies suggest that L2 learners of English prefer a new before given
(NBG) structure (e.g. Park, 2011, p. 109), calling into question GBN’s
universality. As a region where English largely functions as a second
language, Tanzania is a worthy domain for further investigation of this kind.
In this context, I analyse the personal columns category of the Tanzanian
component of ICE-EA. I compare the frequency of GBN and NBG structures
in this corpus category, evaluating the contexts in which these structures
occur. My findings reveal that, although NBG is more prevalent in Tanzanian
English than in standard British English, GBN remains a dominant feature in
this English variety. The goal of this research is to use corpus-based methods
to scrutinise the accuracy of this principle to describe non-standard varieties
of English.