Chapter 8. Focus and quantifier scope
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Balázs Surányi
Abstract
The scope interpretation of doubly quantified sentences is known to be influenced by a variety of contextual factors, among them, Information Structure. While the topic status of an NP has been recurrently argued to give rise to wide scope, the effect of focus status remains controversial: in the literature it has been linked both to narrow scope and to wide scope. This paper presents an empirical study designed to explore whether the focus status of a quantified NP affects its scope-taking options by biasing its interpretation either towards narrow scope or towards wide scope with regard to another, non-focal and non-topical quantified NP in its background. The experiment is based on a rating task using contextualized target sentences accompanied by visual stimuli. While the study detects a mild advantage of linear scope over inverse scope, as well as a markedness effect of the post-verbal placement of focus, the focus status of quantified NPs is not found to interact with their scope interpretation. From a broader perspective, the finding that focus sharply differs from topic in terms of (the lack of) its effect on scope corroborates approaches that view topic and focus as belonging to two distinct dimensions of Information Structure.
Abstract
The scope interpretation of doubly quantified sentences is known to be influenced by a variety of contextual factors, among them, Information Structure. While the topic status of an NP has been recurrently argued to give rise to wide scope, the effect of focus status remains controversial: in the literature it has been linked both to narrow scope and to wide scope. This paper presents an empirical study designed to explore whether the focus status of a quantified NP affects its scope-taking options by biasing its interpretation either towards narrow scope or towards wide scope with regard to another, non-focal and non-topical quantified NP in its background. The experiment is based on a rating task using contextualized target sentences accompanied by visual stimuli. While the study detects a mild advantage of linear scope over inverse scope, as well as a markedness effect of the post-verbal placement of focus, the focus status of quantified NPs is not found to interact with their scope interpretation. From a broader perspective, the finding that focus sharply differs from topic in terms of (the lack of) its effect on scope corroborates approaches that view topic and focus as belonging to two distinct dimensions of Information Structure.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
- Chapter 1. Internal-scope taking arguments in the information structure of deverbal nominals in Hungarian 1
- Chapter 2. Structural ambiguity and case assignment in Hungarian clausal and phrasal comparatives 35
- Chapter 3. Two positions for verbal modifiers 65
- Chapter 4. A representational account of vowel harmony in terms of variable elements and licensing 95
- Chapter 5. Co-patterns, subpatterns and conflicting generalizations in Hungarian vowel harmony 135
- Chapter 6. Measure constructions in Hungarian and the semantics of the -nyi suffix 157
- Chapter 7. Hungarian classifier constructions, plurality and the mass–count distinction 183
- Chapter 8. Focus and quantifier scope 209
- Chapter 9. *VV in Hungarian 239
- Index 253
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
- Chapter 1. Internal-scope taking arguments in the information structure of deverbal nominals in Hungarian 1
- Chapter 2. Structural ambiguity and case assignment in Hungarian clausal and phrasal comparatives 35
- Chapter 3. Two positions for verbal modifiers 65
- Chapter 4. A representational account of vowel harmony in terms of variable elements and licensing 95
- Chapter 5. Co-patterns, subpatterns and conflicting generalizations in Hungarian vowel harmony 135
- Chapter 6. Measure constructions in Hungarian and the semantics of the -nyi suffix 157
- Chapter 7. Hungarian classifier constructions, plurality and the mass–count distinction 183
- Chapter 8. Focus and quantifier scope 209
- Chapter 9. *VV in Hungarian 239
- Index 253
