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 - Mucha, Anne T1 - Past interpretation and graded tense in Medumba JF - Natural language semantics : an international journal of semantics and its interfaces in grammar N2 - This paper provides a formal semantic analysis of past interpretation in Medumba (Grassfields Bantu), a graded tense language. Based on original fieldwork, the study explores the empirical behavior and meaning contribution of graded past morphemes in Medumba and relates these to the account of the phenomenon proposed in Cable (Nat Lang Semant 21:219-276, 2013) for GA (c) ky. Investigation reveals that the behavior of Medumba gradedness markers differs from that of their GA (c) ky counterparts in meaningful ways and, more broadly, discourages an analysis as presuppositional eventuality or reference time modifiers. Instead, the Medumba markers are most appropriately analyzed as quantificational tenses. It also turns out that Medumba, though belonging to the typological class of graded tense languages, shows intriguing similarities to genuinely tenseless languages in allowing for temporally unmarked sentences and exploiting aspectual and pragmatic cues for reference time resolution. The more general cross-linguistic implication of the study is that the set of languages often subsumed under the label "graded tense" does not in fact form a natural class and that more case-by-case research is needed to refine this category. KW - Graded tense KW - Past interpretation KW - Grassfields Bantu Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11050-016-9128-1 SN - 0925-854X SN - 1572-865X VL - 25 SP - 1 EP - 52 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - THES A1 - Mucha, Anne T1 - Temporal interpretation and cross-linguistic variation T1 - Temporale Interpretation und cross-linguistische Variation BT - A formal semantic analysis of temporal and aspectual reference in Hausa and Medumba N2 - This thesis investigates temporal and aspectual reference in the typologically unrelated African languages Hausa (Chadic, Afro–Asiatic) and Medumba (Grassfields Bantu). It argues that Hausa is a genuinely tenseless language and compares the interpretation of temporally unmarked sentences in Hausa to that of morphologically tenseless sentences in Medumba, where tense marking is optional and graded. The empirical behavior of the optional temporal morphemes in Medumba motivates an analysis as existential quantifiers over times and thus provides new evidence suggesting that languages vary in whether their (past) tense is pronominal or quantificational (see also Sharvit 2014). The thesis proposes for both Hausa and Medumba that the alleged future tense marker is a modal element that obligatorily combines with a prospective future shifter (which is covert in Medumba). Cross-linguistic variation in whether or not a future marker is compatible with non-future interpretation is proposed to be predictable from the aspectual architecture of the given language. N2 - Die vorliegende Dissertation untersucht Zeitinterpretation in den afrikanischen Sprachen Hausa (Tschadisch, Afro-asiatisch) und Medumba (Grassfields Bantu). Es wird gezeigt, dass Hausa eine im technischen Sinne tempuslose Sprache ist. Außerdem wird die Interpretation von Sätzen ohne Tempus im Hausa mit der im Medumba verglichen, wo Tempusmarkierung optional und abgestuft ist. Das Verhalten der optionalen Temporalmarkierer im Medumba motiviert eine Quantorenanalyse dieser Morpheme. Im Vergleich mit anderen abgestuften Tempussprachen liefert Medumba somit neue Evidenz für die Annahme, dass Sprachen sich darin unterscheiden, ob die Semantik ihrer Tempusmorpheme über Zeitintervalle quantifiziert oder Zeitvariablen restringiert (vgl. Sharvit 2014). Es wird sowohl für Hausa als auch für Medumba eine modale Semantik für die jeweiligen Futurmarkierer vorgeschlagen. Diese treten obligatorisch mit einem semantischen Prospektiv- bzw. Futurmorphem auf, das im Hausa overt und im Medumba covert realisiert wird. Sprachvergleichend wird argumentiert, dass die Kombinationsmöglichkeiten von semantischem Aspekt in einer Sprache determinieren, ob der Futurmarkierer der jeweiligen Sprache nicht-futurische Lesarten erlaubt. KW - formal semantics KW - tense KW - aspect KW - Chadic KW - Grassfields Bantu KW - Tempus KW - Aspekt KW - Formale Semantik KW - Tschadisch KW - Grassfields Bantu Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-85935 ER -