Information structure

[Kirsten Middeke]

We’ve been wondering whether the COMMENT of a clause is necessarily in FOCUS. I’m in the process of (re-)reading a paper on Old English focus particles –that’s particles or adverbs that divide clauses into TOPIC and FOCUS domains, basically– and I think I’ve come up with an example of a sentence in which the FOCUS is not on the COMMENT:

1. Wenn Luise jetzt eine Fünf würfelt, kann sie / kann Kasimir … (Luise = TOPIC; eine Fünf würfelt = COMMENT & FOCUS)
2. Wenn jetzt Luise eine Fünf würfelt, kann Kasimir / *kann sie … (Luise = (contrastive) FOCUS; eine Fünf würfelt = COMMENT; no TOPIC)

Do you think I’m right? I’m not very good with FOCUS, so correct me if this is wrong.

• This topic was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Kirsten Middeke.

[Author]

Posts