Chapter 12. Left periphery in discourse
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Margarita Borreguero Zuloaga
Abstract
In recent years a number of Romance-language scholars, have attempted to outline discourse models that identify units which contribute significantly to the information structure of discourse. One of these, known as the Basel model, is briefly presented in this paper. As far as we know, it is the only one to give an account of the structure of both oral and written texts. We will focus on the Frame Unit, an extra-predicative unit on the left periphery of the utterance with a scope that can extend beyond the single utterance. We will explore its role in text construction, observing the functions of some discourse markers when they occupy this unit. Finally, we will stress that the position of discourse markers is one of the main factors that must be taken into account in descriptive and cross-linguistic analyses of these elements.
Abstract
In recent years a number of Romance-language scholars, have attempted to outline discourse models that identify units which contribute significantly to the information structure of discourse. One of these, known as the Basel model, is briefly presented in this paper. As far as we know, it is the only one to give an account of the structure of both oral and written texts. We will focus on the Frame Unit, an extra-predicative unit on the left periphery of the utterance with a scope that can extend beyond the single utterance. We will explore its role in text construction, observing the functions of some discourse markers when they occupy this unit. Finally, we will stress that the position of discourse markers is one of the main factors that must be taken into account in descriptive and cross-linguistic analyses of these elements.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Introduction 1
-
Section 1. Left Sentence Peripheries in Old Spanish
- Chapter 1. Left Dislocation phenomena in Old Spanish 23
- Chapter 2. Revisiting stylistic fronting in Old Spanish 53
- Chapter 3. Left forever 77
-
Section 2. Syntactic variation in Modern Spanish
- Chapter 4. Spanish predicative verbless clauses and the left periphery 101
- Chapter 5. Fronting and contrastively focused secondary predicates in Spanish 125
- Chapter 6. The left periphery of Spanish comparative correlatives 155
- Chapter 7. The article at the left periphery 185
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Section 3. Syntax, semantics, and pragmatics
- Chapter 8. Evidentiality and illocutionary force 217
- Chapter 9. On the grammaticalization of the Assertion Structure 253
- Chapter 10. Informational status and the semantics of mood in Spanish preposed complement clauses 283
- Chapter 11. Fronting and irony in Spanish 309
-
Section 4. Spanish among the Romance languages
- Chapter 12. Left periphery in discourse 345
- Chapter 13. A comparative look at Focus Fronting in Romance 383
- Index 419
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Introduction 1
-
Section 1. Left Sentence Peripheries in Old Spanish
- Chapter 1. Left Dislocation phenomena in Old Spanish 23
- Chapter 2. Revisiting stylistic fronting in Old Spanish 53
- Chapter 3. Left forever 77
-
Section 2. Syntactic variation in Modern Spanish
- Chapter 4. Spanish predicative verbless clauses and the left periphery 101
- Chapter 5. Fronting and contrastively focused secondary predicates in Spanish 125
- Chapter 6. The left periphery of Spanish comparative correlatives 155
- Chapter 7. The article at the left periphery 185
-
Section 3. Syntax, semantics, and pragmatics
- Chapter 8. Evidentiality and illocutionary force 217
- Chapter 9. On the grammaticalization of the Assertion Structure 253
- Chapter 10. Informational status and the semantics of mood in Spanish preposed complement clauses 283
- Chapter 11. Fronting and irony in Spanish 309
-
Section 4. Spanish among the Romance languages
- Chapter 12. Left periphery in discourse 345
- Chapter 13. A comparative look at Focus Fronting in Romance 383
- Index 419
