The meaning of topic and focus : the 59th Street Bridge accent

Bibliographic Information

The meaning of topic and focus : the 59th Street Bridge accent

Daniel Büring

(Routledge studies in Germanic linguistics, 3)

Routledge, 1997

Other Title

The 59th Street Bridge accent : on the meaning of topic and focus

Available at  / 46 libraries

Search this Book/Journal

Note

Bibliography: p. 194-201

Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

This study provides an illuminating and ground-breaking account of the complex interaction of intonational phenomena, semantics and pragmatics. Based on examples from German and English, and centred on an analysis of the fall-rise intonation contour, a semantic interpretation for two different pitch accents - Focus and Topic - is developed. The cross-sentence, as well as the sentence internal semantic effects of these accents, follow from the given treatment. The account is based on Montogovian possible world semantics and Chomskian generative syntax.

Table of Contents

  • Chapter 1 Basic Assumptions
  • Chapter 2 Focus and Discourse
  • Chapter 3 The 59th Street Bridge Accent
  • Chapter 4 Quantifiers as S-Topics
  • Chapter 5 The Great Scope Inversion Conspiracy
  • Chapter 6 The Universal Disambiguator
  • Chapter 7 Summary

by "Nielsen BookData"

Related Books: 1-1 of 1

Details

Page Top