Work

Focus and contrastive topic in questions and answers, with particular reference to Turkish

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: Much recent research has recognized the importance of focus and contrastive topic in assertions for discourse coherence. However, with few exceptions, it has been neglected that focus and contrastive topic also occur in questions, and have a similar role in establishing coherence. We propose a framework of dynamic interpretation based on the notion of Commitment Spaces that show that a uniform interpretation of focus and contrastive topic is possible. The algebraic representation format is rich enough so that a separate introduction of discourse trees is not necessary. The paper discusses these phenomena for Turkish, a language with an explicit focus marker for polar and alternative questions, which distinguishes focus from contrastive topic.

Source: Theoretical Linguistics

DOI: 10.1515/tl-2020-0001

Authors: Beste Kamali, Manfred Krifka

Institutions: Bielefeld University, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics

Language: English

Topic: Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

Subfield: Language and Linguistics

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: bronze