Discontinuity and discourse structure : Stranded nominals as asserted background topics
- The aim of this paper is to investigate Rizzi's (2001) recent claim that in combien constructions full movement correlates with a specific or D-linking interpretation of the nominal (see also Obenauer, 1994) while the in-situ option corresponds to focus of the noun. On the one hand, it is argued that the notion of specificity or D-linking for the raised nominal is too strong while on the other hand it is shown that the stranded nominal is not a focus, but a topic, albeit of a special kind. It is also argued that there is a dedicated postverbal position for this kind of topic and that the nominal has all the properties of an incorporated nominal: it is interpreted as an asserted background topic. In the final part of the article, some time is spent discussing the pragmatics and the modality involved in discontinous structures, and showing that the stranded nominal is interpreted inside the VP/below the event variable.
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| Author: | Eric Mathieu |
|---|---|
| URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-309046 |
| URL: | http://www.zas.gwz-berlin.de/193.html?&L=0%20order%20by%201000%20-- |
| ISSN: | 1435-9588 |
| ISSN: | 0947-7055 |
| Parent Title (English): | Proceedings of the Dislocated Elements Workshop : ZAS Berlin, November 2003 / Ed.: Benjamin Shaer ... , Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung, Berlin, 2004; ZAS papers in linguistics Vol. 35 |
| Publisher: | Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung |
| Place of publication: | Berlin |
| Document Type: | Part of a Book |
| Language: | English |
| Date of Publication (online): | 2013/11/14 |
| Year of first Publication: | 2004 |
| Publishing Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
| Release Date: | 2013/11/14 |
| GND Keyword: | Formale Semantik; Syntax; Diskontinuität; Informationsstruktur; Thema-Rhema-Gliederung; Wortstellung; Französisch |
| Volume: | 35 |
| Page Number: | 31 |
| First Page: | 315 |
| Last Page: | 345 |
| HeBIS-PPN: | 381234282 |
| Sammlungen: | Linguistik |
| Linguistik-Klassifikation: | Linguistik-Klassifikation: Syntax |
| Linguistik-Klassifikation: Semantik / Semantics | |
| Zeitschriften / Jahresberichte: | ZAS papers in linguistics : ZASPiL / ZASPiL 35 = Proceedings of the Dislocated Elements Workshop : ZAS Berlin, November 2003 |
| : | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-306777 |
| Licence (German): |  Deutsches Urheberrecht |
