TY - JOUR A1 - Bacskai-Atkari, Julia T1 - Marking Finiteness and Low Peripheries JF - Boundaries Crossed, at the Interfaces of Morphosyntax, Phonology, Pragmatics and Semantics N2 - The article takes up on the observations made byKenesei (1994) regarding the position of the Hungarian interrogative marker -e in the clause and its distribution across clause types. Specifically, there are three crucial points: (i) the marker -e is related to the CP-domain, where clause typing is encoded; (ii) -e is obligatory in embedded clauses and optional in main clauses; (iii) -e is licensed in finite clauses only. I argue that certain clause-typing properties are reflected in the Hungarian clause in a lower functional domain, FP. In particular, finiteness and the interrogative nature of the clause are encoded here, as also indicated by focussing in non-interrogative clauses and by constituent questions, respectively. The marker -e is base-generated in the F head, as opposed to a designated FocP or TP/IP, allowing it to fulfil its clause-typing functions. Base-generation is crucial (as opposed to lowering from C) since it is able to capture the relatedness between -e and finiteness: -e is specified as [fin] and while the FP may be generated to host focussed constituents (including wh-elements) in non-finite clauses, a lexically [fin] head cannot be inserted. KW - Clause typing KW - Finiteness KW - Focus KW - Functional left peripheries KW - Interrogatives KW - Polar questions Y1 - 2018 SN - 978-3-319-90710-9 SN - 978-3-319-90709-3 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90710-9_12 SN - 0924-4670 VL - 94 SP - 183 EP - 198 PB - Springer CY - Cham ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chen, Hui-Ching A1 - Szendroi, Krizsta A1 - Crain, Stephen A1 - Höhle, Barbara T1 - Understanding Prosodic Focus Marking in Mandarin Chinese BT - Data from Children and Adults JF - Journal of Psycholinguistic Research N2 - This study investigated whether Mandarin speakers interpret prosodic information as focus markers in a sentence-picture verification task. Previous production studies have shown that both Mandarin-speaking adults and Mandarin-speaking children mark focus by prosodic information (Ouyang and Kaiser in Lang Cogn Neurosc 30(1-2):57-72, 2014; Yang and Chen in Prosodic focus marking in Chinese four-and eight-year-olds, 2014). However, while prosodic focus marking did not seem to affect sentence comprehension in adults Mandarin-speaking children showed enhanced sentence comprehension when the sentence focus was marked by prosodic information in a previous study (Chen in Appl Psycholinguist 19(4):553-582, 1998). The present study revisited this difference between Mandarin speaking adults and children by applying a newly designed task that tested the use of prosodic information to identify the sentence focus. No evidence was obtained that Mandarin-speaking children (as young as 3years of age) adhered more strongly to prosodic information than adults but that word order was the strongest cue for their focus interpretation. Our findings support the view that children attune to the specific means of information structure marking in their ambient language at an early age. KW - Focus KW - Prosody KW - Language acquisition KW - Mandarin Chinese KW - Information structure Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-018-9580-9 SN - 0090-6905 SN - 1573-6555 VL - 48 IS - 1 SP - 19 EP - 32 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fanselow, Gisbert A1 - Lenertova, Denisa T1 - Left peripheral focus mismatches between syntax and information structure JF - Natural language & linguistic theory N2 - In Czech, German, and many other languages, part of the semantic focus of the utterance can be moved to the left periphery of the clause. The main generalization is that only the leftmost accented part of the semantic focus can be moved. We propose that movement to the left periphery is generally triggered by an unspecific edge feature of C (Chomsky 2008) and its restrictions can be attributed to requirements of cyclic linearization, modifying the theory of cyclic linearization developed by Fox and Pesetsky (2005). The crucial assumption is that structural accent is a direct consequence of being linearized at merge, thus it is indirectly relevant for (locality restrictions on) movement. The absence of structural accent correlates with givenness. Given elements may later receive (topic or contrastive) accents, which accounts for fronting in multiple focus/contrastive topic constructions. Without any additional assumptions, the model can account for movement of pragmatically unmarked elements to the left periphery ('formal fronting', Frey 2005). Crucially, the analysis makes no reference at all to concepts of information structure in the syntax, in line with the claim of Chomsky (2008) that UG specifies no direct link between syntax and information structure. KW - Czech KW - German KW - Focus KW - Topic KW - Information structure KW - Intervention effects KW - Cyclic linearization KW - A-bar-movement KW - Prosody-syntax interface KW - Accentuation Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-010-9109-x SN - 0167-806X VL - 29 IS - 1 SP - 169 EP - 209 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hartmann, Katharina A1 - Zimmermann, Malte T1 - Focus marking in Bura - semantic uniformity matches syntactic heterogeneity JF - Natural language & linguistic theory N2 - The present article introduces a theory of (morpho-)syntactic focus marking on nominal categories in Bura, a Central Chadic SVO language spoken in the northeast of Nigeria. Our central claim is that the particle an plays a crucial role in the marking of subject and non-subject focus. We put forward a uniform analysis of an as a focus copula that selects for syntactic predicates of type < e,t > and a focused constituent of type < e >. This uniform semantic representation is transparently mapped onto different syntactic structures: In a clause with a focused subject, the focus copula appears between the subject in SpecTP and the predicative VP. On the other hand, syntactically focused non-subjects are fronted and appear in a bi-clausal cleft structure that contains the focus copula and a relative cleft-remnant. The non-uniform analysis of focus marking is further supported by the structure of predicative constructions, in which the focus copula separates the focused subject and the adjectival or nominal predicate. It is also shown that alternative unified analyses fail to account for the full range of Bura data. The latter part of the article provides an analysis of the Bura cleft construction. Based on syntactic and semantic evidence, we come to the conclusion that the clefted constituent is base-generated in its initial surface position, and that an empty operator moves within the relative clause. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the potential conceptual reasons behind the observed subject/non-subject asymmetry in Bura. KW - Focus KW - Focus marking KW - Cleft structure KW - Focus copula KW - Focus asymmetries KW - Chadic languages Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-012-9174-4 SN - 0167-806X VL - 30 IS - 4 SP - 1061 EP - 1108 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tomioka, Satoshi ED - Ishihara, Shinichiro ED - Petrova, Svetlana ED - Schwarz, Anne T1 - Intervention effects in focus BT - from a Japanese point of view JF - Interdisciplinary studies on information structure : ISIS ; working papers of the SFB 632 N2 - The most recent trend in the studies of LF intervention effects makes crucial reference to focusing effects on the interveners, and this paper critically examines the representative analyses of the focus-based approach. While each analysis has its own merits and shortcomings, I argue that a pragmatic analysis that does not make appeal to syntactic configurations is better equipped to deal with many of the complex and delicate facts surrounding intervention effects. KW - Intervention Effect KW - Alternative Semantics KW - Whinterrogatives KW - Focus KW - Topic KW - Post-Focus Reduction Y1 - 2007 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-24502 SN - 1866-4725 SN - 1614-4708 VL - 9 SP - 97 EP - 118 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kubozono, Haruo ED - Ishihara, Shinichiro ED - Petrova, Svetlana ED - Schwarz, Anne T1 - Focus and intonation in Japanese BT - Does focus trigger pitch reset? JF - Interdisciplinary studies on information structure : ISIS ; working papers of the SFB 632 N2 - This paper discusses how focus changes prosodic structure in Tokyo Japanese. It is generally believed that focus blocks the intonational process of downstep and causes a pitch reset. This paper presents experimental evidence against this traditional view by looking at the prosodic behavior of Wh words, which receive focus lexically in Japanese as in other languages. It is demonstrated, specifically, that the focused Wh element does not block downstep although it receives a much higher pitch than its preceding element. This suggests that presence of lexical focus does not trigger pitch reset in Japanese. KW - Focus KW - Intonation KW - Japanese KW - Pitch Reset KW - Downstep Y1 - 2007 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-24472 SN - 1866-4725 SN - 1614-4708 VL - 9 SP - 1 EP - 27 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krifka, Manfred T1 - Basic notions of information structure N2 - This article takes stock of the basic notions of Information Structure (IS). It first provides a general characterization of IS — following Chafe (1976) — within a communicative model of Common Ground(CG), which distinguishes between CG content and CG management. IS is concerned with those features of language that concern the local CG. Second, this paper defines and discusses the notions of Focus (as indicating alternatives) and its various uses, Givenness (as indicating that a denotation is already present in the CG), and Topic (as specifying what a statement is about). It also proposes a new notion, Delimitation, which comprises contrastive topics and frame setters, and indicates that the current conversational move does not entirely satisfy the local communicative needs. It also points out that rhetorical structuring partly belongs to IS. KW - Information Structure KW - Focus KW - Topic KW - Givenness KW - Contrast Y1 - 2007 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-19603 SN - 978-3-939469-88-9 SN - 1614-4708 SN - 1866-4725 SP - 13 EP - 55 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Jannedy, Stefanie T1 - Prosodic focus in Vietnamese N2 - This paper reports on pilot work on the expression of Information Structure in Vietnamese and argues that Focus in Vietnamese is exclusively expressed prosodically: there are no specific focus markers, and the language uses phonology to express intonational emphasis in similar ways to languages like English or German. The exploratory data indicates that (i) focus is prosodically expressed while word order remains constant, (ii) listeners show good recoverability of the intended focus structure, and (iii) that there is a trading relationship between several phonetic parameters (duration, f0, amplitude) involved to signal prosodic (acoustic) emphasis. KW - Information Structure KW - Vietnamese KW - Focus KW - Perception KW - (Statement-Question Matching) Y1 - 2007 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-19478 ER -