Discourse-Related Features and Functional Projections

Abstract

This book examines discourse‐related features and their relevance for syntactic theory. This study adopts a cartographic approach to syntactic structures, and has two principal aims: (i) to determine the syntax of the functional projections associated with these types of features and (ii) to account for the various types of fronting phenomena observed in the Romance languages. Based primarily on data from Sicilian and Sardinian, this book sets out to show that contrary to standard assumptions, Focus Fronting in Romance is not restricted to contrastive interpretations, but is also possible with non‐contrastive (‘informational’) Focus. The synthesis of existing analyses and new empirical data from other Romance languages show that non‐contrastive Focus Fronting is a fairly widespread property of Romance, involving quantifiers and quantified expressions (QP‐Fronting) as well as constituents expressing new and unexpected information (Mirative Fronting). Drawing on this empirical evidence, and with the support of further relevant syntactic, prosodic, and interpretive differences, it is claimed that Contrastive Focus and Informational Focus constitute separate categories related to independent features and encoded in distinct focus projections. It is further proposed that a direct parallelism holds between the two focus categories and the two types of wh‐expressions identified in the literature, i.e. D‐linked wh‐phrases and non‐D‐linked wh‐phrases. The analysis of the interplay between word order and of the extension of the focus in different types of sentences reveals novel evidence for the interaction between focus and illocutionary and clause‐type operators. The focus of the clause is also sensitive to overt operators such as wh‐phrases, quantifiers, and focalizing adverbs. The association of focus with both overt and covert operators is therefore a key factor for the interface between syntax and information structure.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 443 citations exist upstream.