Focus and topic in VP-anaphora constructions

Bibliographic Data

ID3987543
AuthorsLuis López (0000-0002-2582-9419), Susanne Winkler
Year2000
Volume38
Issue4
Pages623-664
Publication date2000-01-23
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLinguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0024-3949 • E-ISSN: 1613-396X
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/ling.2000.001
OpenAlexW2061166431
LanguageEN
Citations received19
References cited34

This paper explores the information structure of VP-Anaphora constructions in English, Spanish and German. The goal is to provide an initial account of the syntactic and prosodic licensing mechanisms of VP-Anaphora and to suggest some theoretical consequences for the syntactic representation of the different types of focus and topic. Recent studies (e.g. Rooth 1992b, Tomioka 1995, Fox 1998) have proposed that the characteristic feature of VP-Anaphora constructions is that they bear contrastive focus on the remaining subject. We argue against this claim by providing evidence from prosodic and syntactic investigations of the remaining elements. Our hypothesis is that presentational focus in VP-Anaphora is realized on the negative/affirmative expression and that the remaining subject is free to take various discourse functions depending on the context and the type of construction in which the VP-Anaphora occurs. Our main empirical argument against the above claim comes from Spanish, where the remaining subject can never be interpreted as a contrastive focus. In recent papers on focus typology, convincing arguments have emerged that at least two types

Anaphora (linguistics) · Ellipsis (linguistics) · Focus (optics) · Linguistics · Resolution (logic) · Sociology · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Philosophy · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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