@article{HellmuthSkopeteas2007, author = {Hellmuth, Sam and Skopeteas, Stavros}, title = {Information Structure in Linguistic Theory and in Speech Production: Validation of a Cross-Linguistics Data Set}, year = {2007}, language = {en} } @article{KueglerSkopeteasVerhoeven2007, author = {K{\"u}gler, Frank and Skopeteas, Stavros and Verhoeven, Elisabeth}, title = {Encoding Information structure in Yucatec Maya: on the Interplay of Prosody and Syntax}, year = {2007}, language = {en} } @article{FerySkopeteas2007, author = {F{\´e}ry, Caroline and Skopeteas, Stavros}, title = {Contrastive Topics in Pairing Answers : a Cross-Linguistic Production Study}, isbn = {3-11-019315-9}, year = {2007}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Skopeteas2009, author = {Skopeteas, Stavros}, title = {Word oder and information structure: empirical methods for linguistic fieldwork}, address = {Potsdam}, pages = {373 S.}, year = {2009}, language = {en} } @article{SkopeteasFeryAsatiani2009, author = {Skopeteas, Stavros and F{\´e}ry, Caroline and Asatiani, Rusudan}, title = {Word order and intonation in Georgian}, issn = {0024-3841}, doi = {10.1016/j.lingua.2008.09.001}, year = {2009}, abstract = {Georgian is famous for its word order flexibility: all permutations of constituent order are possible and the choice among them is primarily determined by information structure. In this paper, we show that word order is not the only means to encode information structure in this language, but it is used in combination with sentence prosody. After a preliminary description of the use of prosodic phrasing and intonation for this purpose, we address the question of the interrelation between these two strategies. Based on experimental evidence, we investigate the interaction of focus with word order and prosody, and we conclude that some aspects of word order variation are pragmatically vacuous and can be accommodated in any context if they are realized with an appropriate prosodic structure, while other word order phenomena are quite restrictive and cannot be overridden through prosodic manipulations.}, language = {en} } @article{SkopeteasVerhoeven2009, author = {Skopeteas, Stavros and Verhoeven, Elisabeth}, title = {The interaction between topicalization and structural constraints : evidence from Yucatec Maya}, issn = {0167-6318}, doi = {10.1515/tlir.2009.009}, year = {2009}, abstract = {This article deals with the syntactic and pragmatic properties of left dislocated constituents in Yucatec Maya. It has been argued that these constituents are topics, which implies that a particular structural configuration, namely left dislocation displays a 1:1 correspondence to a particular discourse function. We present evidence that the discourse properties of left dislocation are not uniform: only a subset of the left dislocated constituents qualify as topics in the strict sense, while other instances of left dislocation are better explained if we assume a structural constraint that bans the postverbal occurrence of subject constituents in a particular syntactic configuration. Our empirical findings show that though the occurrence of word order possibilities in discourse is not random, it is not necessarily determined by a unique licensing condition.}, language = {en} } @article{SkopeteasFanselow2010, author = {Skopeteas, Stavros and Fanselow, Gisbert}, title = {Focus in Georgian and the expression of contrast}, issn = {0024-3841}, doi = {10.1016/j.lingua.2008.10.012}, year = {2010}, abstract = {This paper examines the impact of contrastive focus in Georgian syntax. In a semi-naturalistic production study, we elicited spontaneous answers to questions which have shown that contexts involving contrastive focus induce placement of the focused constituent at the immediately preverbal position more frequently than other contexts. Based on this observation we investigate the properties of Georgian grammar which may account for the different impact of contrastive vs. non-contrastive contexts on word order. We first examine the involved syntactic structures and present evidence that preverbal focus is a result of movement to the specifier position of a functional projection whose head attracts the finite verb. We then address the question whether there is evidence for an association between contrast and movement to this position and we provide evidence that the correlation between context and order in the behavioral data does not result from a biunique form-function association of the kind 'contrast <-> move-movement to the specifier position', but from an asymmetry at a discourse level such that contexts involving contrast induce answers in which focused constituents occupy the stressed position in the clause more often than contexts that do not.}, language = {en} } @article{SkopeteasFanselow2010, author = {Skopeteas, Stavros and Fanselow, Gisbert}, title = {Effects of givenness and constraints on free word order}, isbn = {978-0-19-957095-9}, year = {2010}, language = {en} } @article{SkopeteasFanselow2011, author = {Skopeteas, Stavros and Fanselow, Gisbert}, title = {Focus and the exclusion of alternatives on the interaction of syntactic structure with pragmatic inference}, series = {Lingua : international review of general linguistics}, volume = {121}, journal = {Lingua : international review of general linguistics}, number = {11}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0024-3841}, doi = {10.1016/j.lingua.2011.05.005}, pages = {1693 -- 1706}, year = {2011}, abstract = {The claim that focus evokes a set of alternatives is a central issue in several accounts of the effects of focus on interpretation. This article presents two empirical studies that examine whether this property of focus is independent of contextual conditions. The syntactic operation at issue is object-fronting in German, Spanish, Greek, and Hungarian licensed by contexts involving focus on the object constituent. This operation evokes the intuition that the fronted referent excludes some or all relevant alternatives. The presented experiments deal with the question whether this interpretative property obligatorily accompanies the operation at issue or not. The empirical findings show that in German, Spanish, and Greek this intuition depends on properties of the context and is sensitive to the interaction with further discourse factors (in particular, the predictability of the referent). Hungarian displays a different data pattern: our data does not provide evidence that the syntactic operation at issue depends on the context or interacts with further discourse factors. This finding is in line with the view that evoking alternatives is inherent part of constituent-fronting in this language.}, language = {en} } @article{SkopeteasVerhoevenFanselow2022, author = {Skopeteas, Stavros and Verhoeven, Elisabeth and Fanselow, Gisbert}, title = {Discontinuous noun phrases in Yucatec Maya}, series = {Journal of linguistics : JL / publ. for the Linguistics Association of Great Britain}, volume = {58}, journal = {Journal of linguistics : JL / publ. for the Linguistics Association of Great Britain}, number = {3}, publisher = {Cambridge University Press}, address = {New York}, issn = {0022-2267}, doi = {10.1017/S0022226720000419}, pages = {609 -- 648}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Languages differ in whether or not they allow discontinuous noun phrases. If they do, they further vary in the ways the nominal projections interact with the available syntactic operations. Yucatec Maya has two left-peripheral configurations that differ syntactically: a preverbal position for foci or wh-elements that is filled in by movement, and the possibility to adjoin topics at the highest clausal layer. These two structural options are reflected in different ways of the formation of discontinuous patterns. Subextraction from nominal projections to the focus position yielding discontinuous NPs is possible, but subject to several restrictions. It observes conditions on extraction domains, and does not apply to the left branch of nominal structures. The topic position also appears to license discontinuity, typically involving a non-referential nominal expression as the topic and quantifiers/adjectives that form an elliptical nominal projection within the clause proper. Such constructions can involve several morphological and syntactic mismatches between their parts that are excluded for continuous noun phrases, and they are not sensitive to syntactic island restrictions. Thus, in a strict sense, discontinuities involving the topic position are only apparent, because the construction involves two independent nominal projections that are semantically linked.}, language = {en} }