The Syntax Of Topic Focus And Contrast

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The Syntax of Topic, Focus, and Contrast

Author : Ad Neeleman,Reiko Vermeulen
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
Page : 316 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781614511458

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The Syntax of Topic, Focus, and Contrast by Ad Neeleman,Reiko Vermeulen Pdf

This book addresses how core notions of information structure (topic, focus and contrast) are expressed in syntax. The authors propose that the syntactic effects of information structure come about as a result of mapping rules that are flexible enough to allow topics and foci to be expressed in a variety of positions, but strict enough to capture certain cross-linguistic generalisations about their distribution. In particular, the papers argue that only contrastive topics and contrastive foci undergo movement and that this is because such movement has the function of marking the scope of contrast. Several predications are derived from this proposal: such as that a focus cannot move across a topic – whether the latter is in situ or not. Syntactic and semantic evidence in support of this proposal is presented from a wide range of languages (including Dutch, English, Japanese, Korean and Russian) and theoretical consequences explored. The first chapter not only outlines its theoretical aims, but also provides an introduction to information structure. As a consequence, the book is accessible to advanced students as well as professional linguists.

The Syntax of Topic, Focus, and Contrast

Author : Reader in Linguistics Ad Neeleman,Reiko Vermeulen
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 307 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2013-03-08
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1614511462

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The Syntax of Topic, Focus, and Contrast by Reader in Linguistics Ad Neeleman,Reiko Vermeulen Pdf

Main description: This book addresses how core notions of information structure (topic, focus and contrast) are expressed in syntax. We propose that the syntactic effects of information structure come about as a result of mapping rules flexible enough to allow topics and foci to be expressed in a variety of positions, but strict enough to capture certain cross-linguistic generalisations about their distribution. We discuss syntactic and semantic evidence from a range of languages. This book is of interest to professional linguists as well as advanced students.

The Morphology and Syntax of Topic and Focus

Author : Liliana Sánchez
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 261 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027255525

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The Morphology and Syntax of Topic and Focus by Liliana Sánchez Pdf

This book presents an innovative analysis that relates informational structure, syntax and morphology in Quechua. It provides a minimalist account of the relationship between focus, topic, evidentiality and other left-peripheral features and sentence-internal constituents marked with suffixes that have been previously considered of a pragmatic nature. Intervention effects show that these relationships are also of a syntactic nature. The analysis is extended to morphological markers that appear on polarity sensitive items and wh-words. The book also provides a brief overview of the main characteristics of Quechua syntax as well as additional bibliographical information.

On the Role of Contrast in Information Structure

Author : Jorina Brysbaert,Karen Lahousse
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 270 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2024-06-04
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783110986594

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On the Role of Contrast in Information Structure by Jorina Brysbaert,Karen Lahousse Pdf

In research on Information Structure, there is an ongoing discussion about the role of contrast. While most linguists consider contrast to be compatible with both focus and topic, some argue that it is an autonomous IS category. Contrast has been shown to be encoded by different linguistic means, such as specific morphemes, adverbials, clefts, prosodic cues. Hence, this concept is also related to other domains, in particular morphosyntax and prosody. The precise way in which they interact is however not yet entirely clear. Moreover, from a methodological point of view, the identification and annotation of contrast in corpora is not straightforward. This volume provides a selection of articles discussing the definition of contrast, the importance of distinguishing different types of contrast, the use of several encoding strategies, and the annotation of contrast in corpora using the Question Under Discussion Model. The contributions offer data on English, French, French Belgian Sign Language, German, Hindi, Italian and Spanish.

The Interaction of Focus, Givenness, and Prosody

Author : Vieri Samek-Lodovici
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 351 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2015
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780198737926

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The Interaction of Focus, Givenness, and Prosody by Vieri Samek-Lodovici Pdf

This book provides an in-depth investigation of contrastive focalization in Italian, showing that its syntactic expression is systematically affected by the syntactic expression of discourse-givenness. The proposed analysis disentangles the properties genuinely associated with contrastive focalization from those determined by the most productive operations affecting discourse given phrases at the right periphery, namely right dislocation and marginalization. On this basis, it shows that in the default case contrastive focalization occurs in situ and that instances of left-peripheral focalization only arise when focus obligatorily evacuates a larger right-dislocating phrase, giving rise to a distribution of leftward-moved foci that generalizes well beyond the cases examined in Rizzi (1997) and most literature since. In its final chapter, the book examines the syntax-prosody interface, showing how focalization in situ and other key properties follow from the prosodic constraints governing stress placement, thus reinterpreting and extending Zubizarreta's (1998) analysis of p-movement and the role of prosody in shaping syntax. Overall, this book offers an evidence-backed radical departure from current views of focalization based on a fixed focus projection at the left periphery of the clause. It also provides the most comprehensive study of Italian marginalization and right dislocation available to date.

The Oxford Handbook of Information Structure

Author : Caroline Féry,Shinichiro Ishihara
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 800 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2016-07-21
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780191005404

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The Oxford Handbook of Information Structure by Caroline Féry,Shinichiro Ishihara Pdf

This book provides linguists with a clear, critical, and comprehensive overview of theoretical and experimental work on information structure. Leading researchers survey the main theories of information structure in syntax, phonology, and semantics as well as perspectives from psycholinguistics and other relevant fields. Following the editors' introduction the book is divided into four parts. The first, on theories of and theoretical perspectives on information structure, includes chapters on focus, topic, and givenness. Part 2 covers a range of current issues in the field, including quantification, dislocation, and intonation, while Part 3 is concerned with experimental approaches to information structure, including language processing and acquisition. The final part contains a series of linguistic case studies drawn from a wide variety of the world's language families. This volume will be the standard guide to current work in information structure and a major point of departure for future research.

Architecture of Topic

Author : Valéria Molnár,Verner Egerland,Susanne Winkler
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 440 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2019-08-19
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781501504488

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Architecture of Topic by Valéria Molnár,Verner Egerland,Susanne Winkler Pdf

This volume contains innovative papers that target the linguistic status of topic at the interface between grammar and discourse. The purpose of the volume is to discuss the universal properties of topics and, at the same time, to document the range of discourse-semantic and grammatical variation within this phenomenon in European languages. The volume is structured accordingly: (i) theoretical foundations of topicality in grammar and discourse; (ii) discourse-semantic correlates of topicality; (iii) variation in the grammatical (external and internal) encoding of topicality; (iv) topics from the diachronic perspective. The articles take different perspectives, including contrastive studies of modern languages, studies on diachronic development, and typological generalizations. They also take into consideration various types of empirical data – introspective data, semi-spontaneously produced data, experimental data and language corpora. The articles in this volume show that the concept of topic is necessary for the description and explanation of a number of discourse-semantic phenomena. They present a state of the art account of the architecture of topic while making recent research on the phenomenon accessible to a wider readership.

The Meaning of Focus Particles

Author : Ekkehard König
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 244 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2002-09-11
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781134927883

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The Meaning of Focus Particles by Ekkehard König Pdf

Focus particles (words such as even, only, also) play an important role in English, in various syntactic and semantic domains, but their characteristics pose numerous problems for current syntactic frameworks and semantic theories. This book presents a comprehensive analysis of the syntax, meaning and use of focus particles and related function words in English and many other languages. It also provides a historical perspective on their development.

Alternatives to Cartography

Author : Jeroen van Craenenbroeck
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
Page : 385 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9783110206036

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Alternatives to Cartography by Jeroen van Craenenbroeck Pdf

In the 1980s generative grammar recognized that functional material is able to project syntactic structure in conformity with the X-bar-format. This insight soon led to a considerable increase in the inventory of functional projections. The basic idea behind this line of theorizing, which goes by the name of cartography, is that sentence structure can be represented as a template of linearly ordered positions, each with their own syntactic and semantic import. In recent years, however, a number of problems have been raised for this approach. For example, certain combinations of syntactic elements cannot be linearly ordered. In light of such problems a number of alternative accounts have been explored. Some of them propose a new (often interface-related) trigger for movement, while others seek alternative means of accounting for various word order patterns. These alternatives to cartography do not form a homogeneous group, nor has there thus far been a forum where these ideas could be compared and confronted with one another. This volume fills that gap. It offers a varied and in-depth view on the position taken by a substantial number of researchers in the field today on what is presumably one of the most hotly debated and controversial issues in present-day generative grammar.

Focus Realization in Romance and Beyond

Author : Marco García García,Melanie Uth
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing Company
Page : 391 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2018-11-15
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027263483

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Focus Realization in Romance and Beyond by Marco García García,Melanie Uth Pdf

What are the linguistic means for expressing different types of foci such as (narrow) information focus and contrastive focus in Romance languages, and why are there such differing views on such a presumably clear-cut research subject? Bringing together original expert work from a variety of linguistic disciplines and perspectives such as language acquisition and language contact, this volume provides a state-of-the-art discussion on central issues of focus realization. These include the interaction between prosody, syntax, and pragmatics, the typology of word order and intonation languages, the differentiation between focus and related notions such as contrast and presupposed modality, and the role of synchronic variation and change. The studies presented in this volume cover a broad range of Romance languages, including French, Italian, Portuguese, and different varieties of Spanish. Moreover, the book also offers new insights into non-Romance languages such as English, German, and Quechua.

Syntax and Its Limits

Author : Raffaella Folli,Christina Sevdali,Robert Truswell
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 479 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2013-12
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780199683239

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Syntax and Its Limits by Raffaella Folli,Christina Sevdali,Robert Truswell Pdf

In this book, leading linguists explore the empirical scope of syntactic theory, by concentrating on a set of phenomena for which both syntactic and nonsyntactic analyses appear plausible. The volume is organized into four thematic sections: architectures; syntax and information structure; syntax and the lexicon; and lexical items at the interfaces

Discourse Particles in Asian Languages Volume II

Author : Hiroki Nomoto,Elin McCready
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 298 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2023-08-29
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781351057738

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Discourse Particles in Asian Languages Volume II by Hiroki Nomoto,Elin McCready Pdf

This volume is the second in a two-part collection of research on discourse particles focusing exclusively on the languages of Asia from the perspective of formal as well as non-formal semantics and pragmatics. Despite increasing interest in discourse particles, most research in the area (particularly within formal semantics and pragmatics) focuses on a restricted set of languages, and there has been little consensus on the proper formal treatment of particles. The term "discourse particles" has been used to cover a broad range of phenomena, including such things as "sentence-final particles," "discourse adverbs," and other related phenomena. In recent years, there has been extensive development of the formal approach to discourse particles, which often treats these words as devices for marking information updates. It is vital however, to extend this data to non-Western languages, like Malay, Thai, or Vietnamese. These two volumes are the first to give an exclusive focus on particles in non-European languages (in this case, Asian languages), from the perspective of formal and non-formal semantics and pragmatics. This second volume includes chapters on Tagalog, Kimaragang Dusun (Malaysia), Malay, Singlish (Colloquial Singapore English), Thai, and Vietnamese. The chapters are informed by recent theoretical work in formal and non-formal semantics and pragmatics relating to the meaning of particles. The collection contributes to our theoretical understanding of the meaning of discourse particles and to empirical knowledge of discourse particles in the languages of Asia. It will be of interest to postgraduate students and scholars of semantics and pragmatics.

The Syntax of Russian

Author : John F. Bailyn,John Frederick Bailyn
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 393 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2012
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780521885744

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The Syntax of Russian by John F. Bailyn,John Frederick Bailyn Pdf

An essential guide to Russian syntax, which examines major syntactic structures and grammatical puzzles of the language.

Focus and Background in Romance Languages

Author : Andreas Dufter,Daniel Jacob
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 375 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027205797

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Focus and Background in Romance Languages by Andreas Dufter,Daniel Jacob Pdf

Papers presented at a workshop, Focus and background in Romance languages, that convened during the 30th Romanistentag, in Vienna, Austria, 23-27 September 2007.

East and West of The Pentacrest

Author : Timothy Gupton,Elizabeth Gielau
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing Company
Page : 227 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2021-05-10
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027259929

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East and West of The Pentacrest by Timothy Gupton,Elizabeth Gielau Pdf

This book is a collection of contemporary essays and squibs exploring the mental representation of Spanish and other languages in the Romance family. Although largely formal in orientation, they incorporate experimental and corpus data to inform questions of synchronic and diachronic importance. As a whole, these contributions explore two areas of particular interest to linguistic theorizing. The first is linguistic interfaces with chapters on syntax-information structure, syntax-prosody, syntax-semantics, and lexicon-phonology. The second consists of explorations of noun phrases of all sizes—from clitics to nominalized clauses. The results and conclusions of these studies encourage researchers to continue to explore individual languages in particular in order to gain insight on human language in general. This edited volume in honor of Dr. Paula Kempchinsky is reflective of the diversity of approaches that inspired her teaching, research, and mentoring for over thirty years at the University of Iowa and beyond.