Main description:
The grammar of focus has been studied in generative grammar from its inception. It has been the subject of intense, detailed cross-linguistic investigation for over 20 years, particularly within the Principles and Parameters framework. It is appropriate at this point, therefore, to take stock. Appraisal at this particular point is all the more legitimate because it comes at a time of general evaluation of the results of the profound activity that has characterized the Principles and Parameters framework. This general assessment has produced a radical new direction within that framework.
The volume starts off with an introductory chapter that aims to provide an outline for the assessment, to be followed by an overview of the evolution of the study of focus in generative grammar, and a recapitulation of the principal issues associated with focus. These issues are taken up in the remaining chapters of the book, where various grammatical means of marking focus (as well as grammaticalization of focus marking) are analyzed in a wide variety of languages.
Table of contents:
- The Grammar of Focus
- Aspects of the Syntax of Focus in Portuguese
- Bound Focus or How can Association with Focus be Achieved without Going Semantically Astray?
- Are There Cleft Sentences in French?
- Focus Structure and Scope
- The Interaction between Focus and Tone in Bantu
- The Syntax of the P-Focus Position in Turkish
- Word Order and Focus Positions in Universal Grammar
- Focus in Wolof
- Focus in Somali
- Focus in Basque
- Focus and Arabic Clefts
- Index
- List of Contributors
The grammar of focus has been studied in generative grammar from its inception. It has been the subject of intense, detailed cross-linguistic investigation for over 20 years, particularly within the Principles and Parameters framework. It is appropriate at this point, therefore, to take stock. Appraisal at this particular point is all the more legitimate because it comes at a time of general evaluation of the results of the profound activity that has characterized the Principles and Parameters framework. This general assessment has produced a radical new direction within that framework.
The volume starts off with an introductory chapter that aims to provide an outline for the assessment, to be followed by an overview of the evolution of the study of focus in generative grammar, and a recapitulation of the principal issues associated with focus. These issues are taken up in the remaining chapters of the book, where various grammatical means of marking focus (as well as grammaticalization of focus marking) are analyzed in a wide variety of languages.
Table of contents:
- The Grammar of Focus
- Aspects of the Syntax of Focus in Portuguese
- Bound Focus or How can Association with Focus be Achieved without Going Semantically Astray?
- Are There Cleft Sentences in French?
- Focus Structure and Scope
- The Interaction between Focus and Tone in Bantu
- The Syntax of the P-Focus Position in Turkish
- Word Order and Focus Positions in Universal Grammar
- Focus in Wolof
- Focus in Somali
- Focus in Basque
- Focus and Arabic Clefts
- Index
- List of Contributors