Languages & Linguistics
Fronting
Fronting is a linguistic term that refers to the movement of a word or phrase from its normal position to the beginning of a sentence. This is often done for emphasis or to highlight a particular element of the sentence. Fronting is commonly used in English and other languages.
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eBook - PDF- Robert D. Holmstedt, Aaron Schade(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Eisenbrauns(Publisher)
It is also characterized by sequentiality and connectivity: sequences of utter- ances have a non-random character and are connected syntactically, semantically and pragmatically.” 113 Fronted Word Order in Phoenician Inscriptions relate in the makeup of a text. Syntax should be primary in a study of this sort, because syntax, though flexible, does have certain limitations. Holmstedt (2009: 112) correctly summarizes syntactic priority in analyz- ing texts: The relationship between syntax and semantics, on the one hand, and pragmatics, on the other, is primarily unidirectional; in other words, pragmatics necessarily accesses the syntactic and semantic features of a text, but not vice versa. It stands to reason, then, that any model of information structure can only be as accurate as the syntactic and se- mantic model upon which it builds. 5 It thus becomes necessary to examine fronted word order based on mul- tiple variables. 6 Subsequently, though not a primary focus of this study, syntax and literary style work interdependently to convey, not prohibit, the flow of a text, and fronted word order often offers linguistic signals at crucial transitions within the writings. 7 5. See also Talstra 1999: 101. In Schade 2006a, I describe the syntactic struc- ture of Phoenician inscriptions, and the current essay draws on that model in defin- ing the discourse functions in these compositions. 6. So Buth 1990: 15. Van der Merwe (1999b: 173–74) writes that Fronting has been referred to as “topicalization” and can be governed by multiple variables in- cluding syntax, literary devices, and linguistic signaling of the information structure. 7. Floor (2005: 23–24) offers the following remark in his study on Fronting in Proverbs: . . . almost every verse contains a fronted constituent.
eBook - PDF- Arthur Stepanov, Gisbert Fanselow, Ralf Vogel, Arthur Stepanov, Gisbert Fanselow, Ralf Vogel(Authors)
- 2008(Publication Date)
- De Gruyter Mouton(Publisher)
Stylistic Fronting: a contribution to information structure Susann Fischer Standardly, Stylistic Fronting (SF) is understood as a rule which moves a category to a position in front of the finite verb in those sentences where the position in front of the verb (SpecIP) is not occupied by an overt subject NP. SF has often been claimed to represent a mere “MLC-effect” without any information structural consequences. The aim of this paper is to show that the Catalan inverted elements are similar to what we see in the Germanic languages but don’t obey one of the formulated constraints of SF: they also invert when an overt subject is present. In order to account for this fact, I will propose that in Old Catalan the trigger for SF to take place is not checking off a EPP feature, but checking off a strong V-feature in an addi-tional category placed between CP and IP. More specifically I will propose that SF in Old Catalan – contrary to what has been claimed for SF in Germanic – contributes to information structure. 1. Introduction The aim of this paper is to investigate a case of inversion in Old Catalan which is referred to by Mailing (1980/1990) and others – with respect to the Germanic languages – as Stylistic Fronting. Stylistic Fronting (SF) was claimed to be operative in all Old Scandinavian languages (Falk 1993, Platzack 1987), with respect to the Modern Germanic languages it is still operative in Icelandic and Faroese, and was also discussed for Yiddish (Diesing 1990, Santorini 1989). With respect to other languages, examples of SF have been presented for Old French (Cardinaletti and Roberts 1991), and Old Spanish (Fontana 1993, 1996) 1 . The examples in (1) below illus-trate instances of Icelandic SF. (1a) represents the canonical word order, while (1b) illustrates the order after SF has applied. The examples in (2) illustrate the same phenomenon with respect to Old Catalan.
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