Discourse new, focused, and given
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Michael Rochemont
Abstract
Mandatory phrasal prominence on a constituent in English is often attributed to the presence of a focus interpretation for that constituent, be it focus as discourse new or as selection among discourse relevant alternatives. It is argued here that these two functions of focus should be empirically distinguished and use of the notion “focus” restricted to the latter function alone. Phrasal prosodic prominence in discourse new constituents is attributed to default prosody, namely the focus-insensitive mapping between syntactic and prosodic structures. Evidence is garnered to support the notion of default prosodic prominence. This proposal is then briefly applied to Hungarian.
Abstract
Mandatory phrasal prominence on a constituent in English is often attributed to the presence of a focus interpretation for that constituent, be it focus as discourse new or as selection among discourse relevant alternatives. It is argued here that these two functions of focus should be empirically distinguished and use of the notion “focus” restricted to the latter function alone. Phrasal prosodic prominence in discourse new constituents is attributed to default prosody, namely the focus-insensitive mapping between syntactic and prosodic structures. Evidence is garnered to support the notion of default prosodic prominence. This proposal is then briefly applied to Hungarian.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- Reanalysis in Hungarian comparative subclauses 5
- Silent people 33
- Clausal Coordinate Ellipsis (CCE) in Hungarian compared to CCE in Dutch, German, and Estonian 45
- Pseudoclefts in Hungarian 67
- Focus, exhaustivity and the syntax of Wh -interrogatives 97
- A phi-agreement constraint on subject extraction in Finnish 133
- Remarks on a novel LFG approach to spatial particle verb constructions in Hungarian 149
- Resultative passives in Finnish 179
- Discourse new, focused, and given 199
- Harmony that cannot be represented 229
- Index 253
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- Reanalysis in Hungarian comparative subclauses 5
- Silent people 33
- Clausal Coordinate Ellipsis (CCE) in Hungarian compared to CCE in Dutch, German, and Estonian 45
- Pseudoclefts in Hungarian 67
- Focus, exhaustivity and the syntax of Wh -interrogatives 97
- A phi-agreement constraint on subject extraction in Finnish 133
- Remarks on a novel LFG approach to spatial particle verb constructions in Hungarian 149
- Resultative passives in Finnish 179
- Discourse new, focused, and given 199
- Harmony that cannot be represented 229
- Index 253
