Stage Topics and their Architecture
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Nomi Erteschik-Shir
Abstract
All focus sentences have implicit “stage” topics indicating the spatiotemporal parameters of the sentence, the here-and-now of the discourse. Such topics can provide the main topic of the sentence and can also appear as the topics of subordinate clauses. This paper is about the role of stage topics in grammar including the distinction between stage and individual level predicates, anaphora in sentences with verbs of perception, the definiteness effect in existentials and extraction out of picture noun phrases and relative clauses.
Abstract
All focus sentences have implicit “stage” topics indicating the spatiotemporal parameters of the sentence, the here-and-now of the discourse. Such topics can provide the main topic of the sentence and can also appear as the topics of subordinate clauses. This paper is about the role of stage topics in grammar including the distinction between stage and individual level predicates, anaphora in sentences with verbs of perception, the definiteness effect in existentials and extraction out of picture noun phrases and relative clauses.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents IX
- Exploring the Architecture of Topic at the Interface of Grammar and Discourse 1
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Part I: Semantic and Discourse-pragmatic Correlates of Topicality
- Topics and Givenness 47
- The Role of Topics in Licensing Anaphoric Relations in VP-ellipsis 67
- Topic Marking and Illocutionary Force 95
- Topics, Conversational Dynamics and the Root/Non-root Distinction: Adverbial Clauses at the Discourse-syntax Interface 139
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Part II: Variation in the Grammatical Encoding of Topicality: Clause-internal, Clause-external and Null Topics
- Why Topicalize VP? 173
- Information-structural Constraints on PP Topicalization from NPs 203
- Stage Topics and their Architecture 223
- Topicality in Icelandic: Null Arguments and Narrative Inversion 249
- Apropos the Topic 273
- Discourse Topic vs. Sentence Topic Exploiting the Right Periphery of German Verb-second Sentences 293
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PART III: Topics from the Diachronic Perspective
- Topichood and the Margins of the German Clause from a Historical Perspective 337
- Stylistic Fronting at the Interface of Syntax and Discourse 373
- Index 425
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents IX
- Exploring the Architecture of Topic at the Interface of Grammar and Discourse 1
-
Part I: Semantic and Discourse-pragmatic Correlates of Topicality
- Topics and Givenness 47
- The Role of Topics in Licensing Anaphoric Relations in VP-ellipsis 67
- Topic Marking and Illocutionary Force 95
- Topics, Conversational Dynamics and the Root/Non-root Distinction: Adverbial Clauses at the Discourse-syntax Interface 139
-
Part II: Variation in the Grammatical Encoding of Topicality: Clause-internal, Clause-external and Null Topics
- Why Topicalize VP? 173
- Information-structural Constraints on PP Topicalization from NPs 203
- Stage Topics and their Architecture 223
- Topicality in Icelandic: Null Arguments and Narrative Inversion 249
- Apropos the Topic 273
- Discourse Topic vs. Sentence Topic Exploiting the Right Periphery of German Verb-second Sentences 293
-
PART III: Topics from the Diachronic Perspective
- Topichood and the Margins of the German Clause from a Historical Perspective 337
- Stylistic Fronting at the Interface of Syntax and Discourse 373
- Index 425
