Focus Strategies in African Languages: The Interaction of Focus and Grammar in Niger-Congo and Afro-Asiatic

Published by De Gruyter Mouton 2007

Focus Strategies in African Languages

The Interaction of Focus and Grammar in Niger-Congo and Afro-Asiatic

Edited by: Enoch Oladé Aboh , Katharina Hartmann and Malte Zimmermann

Volume 191 in the series Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs [TiLSM]

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110199093

Overview
Contents

About this book

Over the last two decades, focus has become a prominent topic in major fields in linguistic research (syntax, semantics, phonology). Focus Strategies in African Languages contributes to the ongoing discussion of focus by investigating focus-related phenomena in a range of African languages, most of which have been under-represented in the theoretical literature on focus.

The articles in the volume look at focus strategies in Niger-Congo and Afro-Asiatic languages from several theoretical and methodological perspectives, ranging from detailed generative analysis to careful typological generalization across languages. Their common aim is to deepen our understanding of whether and how the information-structural category of focus is represented and marked in natural language. Topics investigated are, among others, the relation of focus and prosody, the effects of information structure on word order, ex situ versus in situ strategies of focus marking, the inventory of focus marking devices, focus and related constructions, focus-sensitive particles.

The present inquiry into the focus systems of African languages has repercussions on existing theories of focus. It reveals new focus strategies as well as fine-tuned focus distinctions that are not discussed in the theoretical literature, which is almost exclusively based on well-documented intonation languages.

Author / Editor information

Enoch Oladé Aboh, Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Katharina Hartmann and Malte Zimmermann, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Germany.

Topics

I-IV Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	I
Contents Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	V
Focus and grammar: The contribution of African languages Enoch Oladé Aboh Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I. Focus and prosody
Nuclear stress in eastern Benue-Kwa (Niger-Congo) Victor Manfredi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
Investigating prosodic focus marking in Northern Sotho Sabine Zerbian Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
Part II. Information structure and word order
Preverbal objects and information structure in Benue-Congo Tom Güldemann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
Focus strategies and the incremental development of semantic representations: Evidence from Bantu Lutz Marten Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Part III. Ex-situ and in-situ strategies of focus marking
Ex-situ focus in Kikuyu Florian Schwarz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
Focus in the Force-Fin system: Information structure in Cushitic languages Mara Frascarelli and Annarita Puglielli Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
Coptic relative tenses: The profile of a morpho-syntactic flagging device Chris H. Reintges Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
Part IV. The inventory of focus marking devices
Identificational operation as a focus strategy in Byali Brigitte Reineke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
Exhaustivity marking in Hausa: A reanalysis of the particle nee/cee Katharina Hartmann and Malte Zimmermann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
Part V. Focus and related constructions
Narrative focus strategies in Gur and Kwa Anne Schwarz and Ines Fiedler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	267
Focused versus non-focused wh-phrases Enoch Oladé Aboh Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	287
315-326 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	315

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
Audience: Theoretical Linguists, Africanists, Typologists
Pages
- Front matter: 6
- Main content: 324
Keywords: African languages; pragmatics

eBook

Published: August 27, 2008
ISBN: 9783110199093

Hardcover

Published: December 19, 2007
ISBN: 9783110195934