Micro-syntax, macro-syntax, foregrounding and backgrounding in discourse: When indexicals target discursively subsidiary information

2
Examples 
(1)
 
and (2) below, taken from English “news-in-brief” newspaper articles, illustrate this 
distinction:
(1) a “US orders staff out of Uzbekistan 
The US and Israel have withdrawn [non-essential diplomatic staff and their families
i
]
3
from 
Uzbekistan, after warnings that they
i
could be targeted by Islamic militants. The move came after 
weeks of unrest in the wake of the massacre of hundreds of civilians in the town of Andijan last 
month.” (The Guardian Weekly, June 10-16, 2005, p. 2) 
b The US and Israel have withdrawn [non-essential diplomatic staff and their families
i
] from 
Uzbekistan, after warnings that the personnel
i
could be targeted by Islamic militants… 
Replacing the 3
rd
person subject pronoun they in the modifying prepositional phrase 
introduced by after in (1a) by the definite NP the personnel, an NP capable of targeting the 
same referent, is (relatively) felicitous in (1b), in that the anaphoric link realised via the 
pronoun they in (1a)
is maintained. And indeed, the phrase is clearly only loosely connected, 
in grammatical terms, with the initial one. Its function is that of a sentence adverbial, 
providing the reason for the state of affairs evoked via the initial (main) clause. We are 
therefore (by hypothesis) dealing with a macro-syntactic relation here. Let us look now at 
example (2):
(2) a “[Investors in the beleaguered oil firm Yukos
j
] have been told by a Russian court that they
j
can 
have no role in the organisation’s bankruptcy. Analysts believe the state is attempting to 
renationalise the remains of the company.” The Guardian Weekly, 7-13/04/06, p. 28. 
b #[Investors in the beleaguered oil firm Yukos
j
] have been told by a Russian court that the