Focus sensitivity in formal grammar: a cross-linguistic approach

• Applicant: Dr. Katalin Balogh
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages ; Applied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 466022950

This work builds upon and extends the research in the first phase of the project, which examined focus sensitive elements across languages studying their structural and interpretational properties from the perspective of grammar architecture and modelling. In the second phase, we will further develop the inclusion of Information Structure (IS) in formal grammar, with an increased emphasis on cognitive processes at work in verbal communication. The core issue of the project is the modeling of the effects of IS on the grammatical system. We argue that this issue must be approached from a primarily cognitive and communicative perspective, given that IS fundamentally concerns the way communicating agents organize information within a discourse setting. Building upon and extending the work in the first phase, our main aim is to develop a uniform, cross-linguistically valid grammatical model that captures the effects of IS (in particular the focus structure) on the grammatical system within a cognitively oriented linguistic theory and its formal modeling. Extending and advancing the work in the first phase, the project is organized around three main research goals. 1. Characterizing the bi-directional (backward-looking and forward-looking) function of focusing within communication and its role in determining the source of focus structure. 2. Providing the necessary extensions to Role and Reference Grammar including a cognitive semantic representation of alternatives and a representation of relevant aspects of the Prosodic Projection towards a proper accommodation of focus sensitivity. 3. Providing an exact formalized model of the 'IS-Projection' together with the cognitive model of context that captures the effects of IS within the formal grammar architecture towards a proper formal modelling of the interplay between context, communicative functions and marking strategies in the derivation of the focus structure.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: United Kingdom, USA
• Cooperation Partners: Professorin Dr. Delia Bentley; Dr. Mitsuaki Shimojo; Professor Dr. Robert D. van Valin