Focus Structure in Generative Grammar

An integrated syntactic, semantic and intonational approach

Author
Carsten Breul | University of Duisburg-Essen
HardboundAvailable
ISBN 9789027227928 (Eur) | EUR 130.00
ISBN 9781588115034 (USA) | USD 195.00
 
e-Book
ISBN 9789027295606 | EUR 130.00 | USD 195.00
 
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ISBN 9781423766391
The notion of focus structure in this work refers to the distinction between categorical, thetic and identificational sentences. The central claim is that the syntactic representation of every sentence has to encode which of these types of focus structure is realized. This claim is discussed in great detail with respect to syntax, intonation and semantics within the framework of the Minimalist Program. It is shown that the incorporation of focus structure into syntax offers new perspectives for a solution of vexing problems in syntax and semantics. For example, fronting (preposing, 'topicalisation') is treated as a syntactic operation which clearly belongs to core grammar, i.e. is not optional or 'stylistic'; the semantic notion of quantifier raising is dispensed with in favour of a focus structural treatment of phenomena which gave rise to it. The book appeals to generative linguists and to functional linguists who do not believe in an unbridgeable gap between the formal and functional analysis of language.
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 68] 2004.  x, 432 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Table of Contents
Cited by

Cited by 14 other publications

Abraham, Werner
2020. Introduction . In Thetics and Categoricals [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 262],  pp. 2 ff. DOI logo
Authier, J. Marc & Liliane Haegeman
2014. No Such Thing as “Parameterized Structural Deficiency” in the Left Periphery1. In Language Use and Linguistic Structure,  pp. 33 ff. DOI logo
Breul, Carsten
2008. On identifiability and definiteness in English and German. Languages in Contrast 8:2  pp. 287 ff. DOI logo
BREUL, CARSTEN
2014. The perfect participle paradox: some implications for the architecture of grammar. English Language and Linguistics 18:3  pp. 449 ff. DOI logo
Endo, Yoshido & Liliane Haegeman
2019. Adverbial clauses and adverbial concord. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 4:1 DOI logo
Griffiths, James
2015. Parenthetical verb constructions, fragment answers, and constituent modification. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 33:1  pp. 191 ff. DOI logo
Griffiths, James
2019. A Q-based approach to clausal ellipsis: Deriving the preposition stranding and island sensitivity generalisations without movement. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 4:1 DOI logo
HAEGEMAN, LILIANE, ANDRÉ MEINUNGER & ALEKSANDRA VERCAUTEREN
2014. The architecture ofit-clefts. Journal of Linguistics 50:2  pp. 269 ff. DOI logo
Lozano, Cristobal
2006. Focus and split-intransitivity: the acquisition of word order alternations in non-native Spanish. Second Language Research 22:2  pp. 145 ff. DOI logo
Ojea, Ana
2019. EPP Satisfaction on Discourse Grounds: The Case of Locative Inversion. Syntax 22:2-3  pp. 248 ff. DOI logo
Ojea, Ana
2023. Estructura informativa y orden de palabras en las cláusulas de relativo restrictivas. Verba: Anuario Galego de Filoloxía DOI logo
Walkden, George
2017. Language contact and V3 in Germanic varieties new and old. The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 20:1  pp. 49 ff. DOI logo
ZHOU, PENG & STEPHEN CRAIN
2010. Focus identification in child Mandarin. Journal of Child Language 37:5  pp. 965 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 16 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Subjects

Main BIC Subject

CF: Linguistics

Main BISAC Subject

LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General
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ONIX 2.1
ONIX 3.0
U.S. Library of Congress Control Number:  2004041135 | Marc record