Focus Strategies in African Languages: The Interaction of Focus and Grammar in Niger-Congo and Afro-Asiatic

Author:   Enoch Oladé Aboh ,  Katharina Hartmann ,  Malte Zimmermann
Publisher:   De Gruyter
Volume:   191
ISBN:  

9783110195934


Pages:   330
Publication Date:   19 December 2007
Recommended Age:   College Graduate Student
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Awaiting stock   Availability explained
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Focus Strategies in African Languages: The Interaction of Focus and Grammar in Niger-Congo and Afro-Asiatic


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Overview

Over the last two decades, focus has become a prominent topic in major fields in linguistic research (syntax, semantics, phonology). Focus Strategies in African Languages contributes to the ongoing discussion of focus by investigating focus-related phenomena in a range of African languages, most of which have been under-represented in the theoretical literature on focus. The articles in the volume look at focus strategies in Niger-Congo and Afro-Asiatic languages from several theoretical and methodological perspectives, ranging from detailed generative analysis to careful typological generalization across languages. Their common aim is to deepen our understanding of whether and how the information-structural category of focus is represented and marked in natural language. Topics investigated are, among others, the relation of focus and prosody, the effects of information structure on word order, ex situ versus in situ strategies of focus marking, the inventory of focus marking devices, focus and related constructions, focus-sensitive particles. The present inquiry into the focus systems of African languages has repercussions on existing theories of focus. It reveals new focus strategies as well as fine-tuned focus distinctions that are not discussed in the theoretical literature, which is almost exclusively based on well-documented intonation languages.

Full Product Details

Author:   Enoch Oladé Aboh ,  Katharina Hartmann ,  Malte Zimmermann
Publisher:   De Gruyter
Imprint:   De Gruyter Mouton
Volume:   191
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 2.40cm , Length: 23.00cm
Weight:   0.600kg
ISBN:  

9783110195934


ISBN 10:   3110195933
Pages:   330
Publication Date:   19 December 2007
Recommended Age:   College Graduate Student
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Awaiting stock   Availability explained
The supplier is currently out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out for you.

Table of Contents

Focus: The African way Enoch Oladé Aboh, Katharina Hartmann, and Malte Zimmermann Part I Focus and prosody Nuclear stress in Eastern Benue-Kwa (Niger-Congo) Victor Manfredi Investigating prosodic focus marking in Northern Sotho Sabine Zerbian Part II Focus and word order Preverbal objects and information structure in Benue-Congo Tom Güldemann Focus strategies and the incremental development of semantic representations: Evidence from Bantu Lutz Marten Part III Focus and morphosyntax Identificational operation as a focus strategy in Byali Brigitte Reineke Focus or narrative construction? Ines Fiedler and Anne Schwarz Ex-situ focus in Kikuyu Florian Schwarz Focused versus non-focused wh-Phrases Enoch Oladé Aboh Coptic relative tenses: The Profile of a morpho-syntactic flagging device Chris Reintges Focus in the Force-Fin system: Information structure in Cushitic languages Mara Frascarelli and Annarita Puglielli Exhaustivity marking in Hausa: A re-analysis of the particle nee/cee Katharina Hartmann and Malte Zimmermann

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Author Information

Enoch Oladé Aboh, Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Katharina Hartmann and Malte Zimmermann, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Germany.

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