Títol: On the typology of the prosodic expression of focus, a càrrec de Frank Kügler (Frankfurt University)

Dia: dimecres 20 de novembre del 2019

Hora: 12.00 hores

Lloc: aula 52.217 Campus de la Comunicació-Poblenou (UPF)

Talk of the UR-LING group / Master in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics

Abstract: This talk tackles the broad variation found across languages in the prosodic realization of focus. In many languages, though not in all, it is claimed that prosody plays a key role in encoding information structure (IS), in general focused elements are more prominent, topical and given elements less prominent. I will review evidence about prosodic cues to focus across a wide range of languages, in relation to a common IS framework. A typology of prosodic focus-marking strategies is proposed: stress-based, phrase-based, and register-based, into which most languages studied to date can be placed. However, as is discussed, there are some languages for which prosody does not seem to be relevant to marking focus, and/or those for which prosody plays a role only when considered in conjunction with prosody-syntax interactions related to IS. Further, a critical review is presented of recent and long-standing theoretical claims in the literature that these different prosodic-marking strategies can be linked by overarching principles, e.g. focus-as-prominence, focus-as-alignment, or focus-as-register.