Marked Information Focus

Any allegations of nonconsensual sex	are	unequivocally	denied	by Mr. Weinstein
Theme	Rheme
		New	Given
Subject	Finite	mood Adjunct: intensity: degree: total	Predicator	Adjunct
Mood			Residue

In this analysis, the tonic prominence is assumed to fall on unequivocally, thereby textually highlighting the interpersonal intensity as the marked Focus of New information.

cf Geoff Pullum:

But it’s a key fact about passives in English that you don’t put older information in the by-phrase when there’s newer information in the subject. … Here that information-structure constraint is oddly violated by putting Mr. Weinstein in the by-phrase.

On clauses, like the above, that are marked for both voice and information, Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 282) write:

The reason for choosing the ‘receptive’ in English is to get the desired texture, in terms of Theme-Rheme and Given-New; in particular, it avoids marked information focus (which carries an additional semantic feature of contrast).  Here, however, the ‘receptive’ has the opposite effect; it actually leads to a marked focus of information (New before Given); hence the resulting form is doubly marked, both for information and for voice. Such a form is by no means impossible; but the meaning is such that it assumes a highly specific context.