TY - JOUR A1 - Fominyam, Henry A1 - Simik, Radek T1 - The morphosyntax of exhaustive focus JF - Natural language & linguistic theory N2 - We provide an analysis of focus and exhaustive focus in the Grassfields Bantu language Awing. We show that Awing provides an exceptionally clear window into the syntactic properties of exhaustive focus. Our analysis reveals that the Awing particle lə́ (le) realizes a left-peripheral head which, in terms of its syntactic position in the functional sequence, closely corresponds to the Foc(us) head in standard cartographic analyses (e.g., Rizzi 1997). Crucially, however, we show that le is only used if the focus it associates with receives a presuppositional exhaustive (cleft-like) interpretation. Other types of focus are not formally encoded in Awing. In order to reflect this semantic specification of le, we call its syntactic category Exh rather than Foc. Another point of difference from what one would consider a “standard” cartographic Foc head is that the focus associated with le is not realized in its specifier but rather within its complement. More particularly, we argue that le associates with the closest maximal projection it asymmetrically c-commands. The broader theoretical relevance of the present work is at least two-fold. First, our paper offers novel evidence in support of Horvath’s (2010) Strong Modularity Hypothesis for Discourse Features, according to which information structural notions such as focus cannot be represented in narrow syntax as formal features. We argue that the information structure-related movement operations that Awing exhibits can be accounted for by interface considerations, in the spirit of Reinhart (2006). Second, our data support the generality of the so-called closeness requirement on association with focus (Jacobs 1983), which dictates that a focus-sensitive particle be as close to its focus as possible (in terms of c-command). What is of special significance is the fact that Awing exhibits two different avenues to satisfying closeness. The standard one—previously described for German or Vietnamese and witnessed here for the Awing particle tśɔ’ə ‘only’—relies primarily on the flexible attachment of the focus-sensitive particle. The Awing particle le, in contrast, is syntactically rigid. For that reason, the satisfaction of closeness relies solely on the flexibility of other syntactic constituents. KW - Awing KW - Grassfields Bantu KW - Exhaustive focus KW - Focus encoding KW - Verbal morphosyntax KW - Interface of syntax and information structure Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-017-9363-2 SN - 0167-806X SN - 1573-0859 VL - 35 SP - 1027 EP - 1077 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fominyam, Henry A1 - Tran, Thuan T1 - Beware of ‘discourse markers’ JF - Of trees and birds. A Festschrift for Gisbert Fanselow KW - Festschrift KW - Informationsstruktur KW - Linguistik KW - Morphologie KW - Syntax KW - festschrift KW - information structure KW - linguistics KW - morphology KW - syntax Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-432524 SN - 978-3-86956-457-9 SP - 257 EP - 272 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - BOOK A1 - Olsen, Susan A1 - Stiebels, Barbara A1 - Bierwisch, Manfred A1 - Zimmermann, Ilse A1 - Cavar, Damir A1 - Georgi, Doreen A1 - Bacskai-Atkari, Julia A1 - Alexiadou, Artemis A1 - Błaszczak, Joanna A1 - Müller, Gereon A1 - Šimík, Radek A1 - Meinunger, André A1 - Thiersch, Craig A1 - Arnhold, Anja A1 - Féry, Caroline A1 - Bayer, Josef A1 - Titov, Elena A1 - Fominyam, Henry A1 - Tran, Thuan A1 - Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, Ina D. A1 - Schlesewsky, Matthias A1 - Zimmermann, Malte A1 - Häussler, Jana A1 - Mucha, Anne A1 - Schmidt, Andreas A1 - Weskott, Thomas A1 - Wierzba, Marta A1 - Stede, Manfred A1 - Skopeteas, Stavros A1 - Gafos, Adamantios I. A1 - Haider, Hubert A1 - Wunderlich, Dieter A1 - Staudacher, Peter A1 - Rauh, Gisa ED - Brown, Jessica M. M. ED - Schmidt, Andreas ED - Wierzba, Marta T1 - Of Trees and Birds BT - A Festschrift for Gisbert Fanselow N2 - Gisbert Fanselow’s work has been invaluable and inspiring to many ­researchers working on syntax, morphology, and information ­structure, both from a ­theoretical and from an experimental perspective. This ­volume comprises a collection of articles dedicated to Gisbert on the occasion of his 60th birthday, covering a range of topics from these areas and beyond. The contributions have in ­common that in a broad sense they have to do with language structures (and thus trees), and that in a more specific sense they have to do with birds. They thus cover two of Gisbert’s major interests in- and outside of the linguistic world (and ­perhaps even at the interface). KW - Festschrift KW - Linguistik KW - Syntax KW - Morphologie KW - Informationsstruktur KW - festschrift KW - linguistics KW - syntax KW - morphology KW - information structure Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-426542 SN - 978-3-86956-457-9 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER -