The syntax and prosody of Focus: the Bantu-Italian connection

This paper provides an overview of the literature on the syntax and prosody of focus in some of the Bantu languages (Kimatuumbi, Chimwiini, Chichewa) and in Italian, and it argues that, despite their typological distance, they share much in common with respect to both the syntax and prosody of focus...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Zubizarreta, María Luisa
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2010
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/72534
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/72534
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Prosodic phrasing
Strong prosodic boundary
Weak prosodic boundary
Focus
High focus position
Low focus position
Functional domain
Lexical domain
Prosodic emargination
Right-dislocation
Fraseo prosódico
Marca prosódica fuerte
Marca prosódica débil
Foco
Posición superior de foco
Posición inferior de foco
Dominio funcional
Dominio léxico
‘Marginación’ prosódica
Dislocación a la derecha
Fraseamento prosódico
Fronteira prosódica forte
Fronteira prosódica fraca
Posição de foco alta
Posição de foco baixa
Domínio funcional
Domínio lexical
Marginalização prosódica
Deslocação à direita
Descripción
Sumario:This paper provides an overview of the literature on the syntax and prosody of focus in some of the Bantu languages (Kimatuumbi, Chimwiini, Chichewa) and in Italian, and it argues that, despite their typological distance, they share much in common with respect to both the syntax and prosody of focus: 1) both language types have an active low Focus position (Belletti 2004, Aboh 2007); and 2) the Focus position triggers the insertion of a strong prosodic boundary, which gives rise to a ‚ripple effect‛ in that phrases to the right of Foc are similarly flanked by a comparable prosodic boundary. The view outlined here argues in favor of a stronger syntax-prosody connection than is generally recognized in current approaches.