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
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 466022950

It is widely accepted that the interpretation of a range of linguistic expressions is dependent on the focus structure (and thereby the Information Structure) of the utterances in which they occur. This observation is cross-linguistically valid and the phenomenon is referred to as association with focus (Rooth, 1985) or focus sensitivity (Beaver & Clark, 2008). This project studies the structural and interpretational properties of focus sensitive particles across languages, and addresses the general issue of the proper inclusion of Information Structure in formal grammar theory. The proper cross-linguistic analysis of focus sensitive particles (and the phenomenon of focus sensitivity) requires a comprehensive formal analysis at all interfaces of (morpho-)syntax, semantics and pragmatics (with reference to prosody), not only at the semantic level. The main research objective of the project is the development of a uniform, cross-linguistic account of focus sensitive particles that captures structure building and interpretational aspects of Information Structure within a formal grammar theory and its modeling. The project envisages to accomplish the main objective through two lines of work: empirical investigation and theoretical analysis on the one hand, and formal modeling on the other. We investigate our core phenomenon in three typologically distinct discourse configurational languages with structural focus marking: Hungarian, Georgian and Japanese. The study of these languages contributes substantially to the understanding of the structural and interpretational behaviour of focus sensitive particles, in particular their interaction with structural focus marking.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Cooperation Partners: Professorin Dr. Laura Kallmeyer; Dr. Rainer Osswald; Professor Dr. Stavros Skopeteas