Focus types and argument asymmetries
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Stavros Skopeteas
Abstract
The effects of focus on syntax differ across languages: some languages encode focus in situ, while in other languages focus induces an array of constructions that deviate from the canonical configuration, such as non-canonical orders or clefts. This article presents semi-spontaneously produced data from American English, Québec French, Hungarian, and Georgian which shows that speakers of these languages select different structures under identical discourse conditions. The observed cross-linguistic differences are accounted for by means of grammatical properties of the object languages that hold independently of information structure. This account leads to the conclusion that a non-compositional mapping between information structural concepts and structural configurations is an unnecessary complication of the grammatical model.
Abstract
The effects of focus on syntax differ across languages: some languages encode focus in situ, while in other languages focus induces an array of constructions that deviate from the canonical configuration, such as non-canonical orders or clefts. This article presents semi-spontaneously produced data from American English, Québec French, Hungarian, and Georgian which shows that speakers of these languages select different structures under identical discourse conditions. The observed cross-linguistic differences are accounted for by means of grammatical properties of the object languages that hold independently of information structure. This account leads to the conclusion that a non-compositional mapping between information structural concepts and structural configurations is an unnecessary complication of the grammatical model.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface VII
- List of contributors IX
- List of abbreviations XI
- Introduction 1
- Contrastive topics and distributed foci as instances of sub-informativity 15
- Givenness and discourse anaphors 51
- Constraints on subject-focus mapping in French and English 77
- Wh -questions in French and English 101
- A comparative perspective on intensive reflexives 139
- Focus types and argument asymmetries 169
- Topicality in L1-acquisition 199
- Formal and functional constraints on constituent order and their universality 231
- On the foundations of the contrastive study of information structure 277
- Subject index 305
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface VII
- List of contributors IX
- List of abbreviations XI
- Introduction 1
- Contrastive topics and distributed foci as instances of sub-informativity 15
- Givenness and discourse anaphors 51
- Constraints on subject-focus mapping in French and English 77
- Wh -questions in French and English 101
- A comparative perspective on intensive reflexives 139
- Focus types and argument asymmetries 169
- Topicality in L1-acquisition 199
- Formal and functional constraints on constituent order and their universality 231
- On the foundations of the contrastive study of information structure 277
- Subject index 305
