On Information Structure, Meaning and Form
Generalizations across languages
Published on 8. March 2007
Book
Hardback
570 pages
978-90-272-3364-6 (ISBN)
Description
This collection of articles offers a new and compelling perspective on the interface connecting syntax, phonology, semantics and pragmatics. At the core of this volume is the hypothesis that information structure represents the common interface of these grammatical components. Information structure is investigated here from different theoretical viewpoints yielding typologically relevant information and structural generalizations. In the volume's introductory chapter, the editors identify two central approaches to information structure: the formal and the interpretive view. The remainder of the book is organized accordingly. The first part examines information structure and grammar, concentrating on generalizations across languages. The second part investigates information structure and pragmatics, concentrating on clause structure and context. Through concrete analyses of topic, focus, and related phenomena across different languages, the contributors add new and convincing evidence to the research on information structure.
Reviews / Votes
On Information Structure, Meaning and Form is an attractive collection of papers which addresses the interfaces of information structure from both the formal perspective (prosody, morphosyntax) and the interpretive perspective (semantics, pragmatics). The book not only shows that information structure is essential in all disciplines of linguistics, but also demonstrates how information structure may be linked to the various areas of linguistic research and how this link can be formalised. In doing so, it fits in the recently increased interest in information structure and contributes to the ongoing discussions in the study of information structure itself and the way it interfaces with semantics, pragmatics, phonology and morphosyntax. -- Jenneke van der Wal, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Gramis Project, Tervuren, in Linguistische Berichte 222: 253-256More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Amsterdam
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 245 mm
Width: 164 mm
Weight
1170 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-272-3364-6 (9789027233646)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Kerstin Schwabe | Susanne Winkler
On Information Structure, Meaning and Form
Generalizations across languages
E-Book
03/2007
1st Edition
John Benjamins Publishing Company
€175.99
Available for download
Persons
Content
1. Acknowledgments; 2. On Information Structure, Meaning and Form: Generalizations Across Languages (by Schwabe, Kerstin); 3. Part I Information structure and grammar: Generalizations across languages; 4. Phases and the typology of focus constructions (by Drubig, Hans Bernhard); 5. 1.1 Topics and topicalization across languages; 6. The prosody of topicalization (by Fery, Caroline); 7. Types of topics in German and Italian (by Frascarelli, Mara); 8. The Korean particle nun, the English fall-rise accent, and thetic/categorical judgements (by Hetland, Jorunn); 9. Topicalization in Malagasy, Tagalog and Tsou (by Law, Paul); 10. On the discourse configurationality of West Germanic (by Molnarfi, Laszlo); 11. Topic, focus and default vs. contrastive accent: typological differences with respect to discourse prominence (by Abraham, Werner); 12. 1.2 Focus and focus movement across languages; 13. Identifying inferences in focus (by Wedgwood, Dan); 14. Focus structure and the interpretation of multiple questions (by Suranyi, Balazs); 15. Focus structure, movement to spec-Foc and syntactic processing (by Breul, Carsten); 16. Focus and marked positions for VP adverbs (by Gobbel, Edward); 17. Ellipsis and inversion: A feature-based focus account (by Gergel, Remus); 18. Subject/object-asymmetry in Northern Sotho (by Zerbian, Sabine); 19. Wide focus interpretation with fronted focus exponents in Czech (by Lenertova, Denisa); 20. In place - out of place? Focus strategies in Hausa (by Hartmann, Katharina); 21. Part II Information structure and pragmatics: Clause structure and context; 22. Instructions for interpretation as separate performatives (by Portner, Paul); 23. Interrogative complement clauses (by Schwabe, Kerstin); 24. The syntax and pragmatics of embedded yes/no questions (by Eckardt, Regine); 25. Toward a uniform analysis of short answers and gapping (by Reich, Ingo); 26. Alternative Semantics for definite NPs (by Heusinger, Klaus von); 27. The information structure of bare plurals in English and Italian (by Cohen, Ariel); 28. References; 29. Name index; 30. Subject index