摘要 :
Based on six detailed case studies of languages in which focus is marked morphosyn-tactically, we propose a novel formal theory of focus marking, which can capture these as well as the familiar English-type prosodic focus marking....
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Based on six detailed case studies of languages in which focus is marked morphosyn-tactically, we propose a novel formal theory of focus marking, which can capture these as well as the familiar English-type prosodic focus marking. Special attention is paid to the patterns of focus syncretism, that is, when different size and/or location of focus are indistinguishably realized by the same form. The key ingredients to our approach are that complex constituents (not just words) may be directly focally marked, and that the choice of focal marking is governed by blocking.
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摘要 :
The pseudo-cleft analysis and the clausal complement analysis for the cleft construction in Malagasy are compared. The two are similar with respect to constituency, placement of negation and adverbials, and yet exhibit a number of...
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The pseudo-cleft analysis and the clausal complement analysis for the cleft construction in Malagasy are compared. The two are similar with respect to constituency, placement of negation and adverbials, and yet exhibit a number of differences. Restrictions on the predicate, tense-marking on locatives and PPs, multiple occurrence of adverbs, binding into PPs as well as coordination are shown to be most problematic for the pseudo-cleft account according to which the clefted phrase is the predicate and what follows it is the DP subject with an empty head noun. The obligatory empty head noun, the non-DP distribution of the suggested DP subject, clefting of adjuncts and long-distance dependency are also troublesome for this view. These facts can be straightforwardly accommodated in the clausal complement analysis in which the cleft construction has a structure in which an empty copula verb takes as complement a functional projection headed by the focus particle no, and the clefted phrase is fronted to its surface position. Certain facts concerning discontinuous phrases and the adverb daholo ‘all’ ostensibly support the clefted phrase being the predicate, but turn out to have no specific bearing on the cleft construction.
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