- 625 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
The Architecture of Focus
About this book
This collection investigates the architecture of focus in linguistic theory from different theoretical perspectives. Research on focus and information structure in the last four decades has shown that the phenomenon of focus is highly complex, the theoretical approaches manifold, and the data highly sensitive. The main emphasis has been placed on the integration of the notion of focus in generative grammar. In recent years, however, the approaches to focus and information structure underwent a radical change in perspective. The theoretical concept of focus, its related terms and phenomena became the object of research. Along with it, the research questions shifted: instead of locating focus in the architecture of grammar, linguists investigate the architecture of focus itself. The central underlying idea of this collection is to document this change in perspective with the aim of isolating essential keystones and research areas in both the theoretical and empirical domain. The book is structured accordingly. Following the introduction, there are four main sections: The general section discusses the theoretical foundations of focus within grammar. The second section hosts papers which investigate the representation of focus and topic at the syntax-pragmatics interface. The third section discusses the phonological representation of focus and its relation to meaning. The papers of the final section investigate different types of focus constructions in a variety languages. The collection of papers on the architecture of focus, its interpretation and representation mirror the establishment of the focus research field.
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Information
Table of contents
- Exploring the architecture of focus in grammar
- Part 1: Theoretical foundations of focus and information structure
- On the architecture of topic and focus
- Topic, focus and the structural dynamics of language
- On the (in)dependence relation between syntax and pragmatics
- Association with focus phrases
- Focus as identification
- Focussing as predication
- Part 2: The representation of focus, topic and contrast at the syntax-pragmatics interface
- On different kinds of contrast
- Contrast and movement to the German prefield
- Noncanonical negation and information structure in Finnish
- Double Negation and information structure: Somewhere between topic and focus
- Part 3: The phonological representation of focus, topic and contrast and its relation to meaning
- Focus projection and default prominence
- Focus on contrast and emphasis: Evidence from prosody
- Topic-focus controversies
- Part 4: Focus-related constructions in different languages
- Ellipsis at the interfaces: An information-structural proposal
- Elliptical dass-clauses in German
- On the discourse impact of subordinate clauses
- The influence of operators on the interpretation of DPs and PPs in German information structure
- Clefts in English and Norwegian: Implications for the grammar-pragmatics interface
- The complex functions of it-clefts
- Focus constructions in Hausa
- Index