‘Phasing’ contrast at the interfaces

This paper is concerned with the interpretation of markedness at the interfaces. Special attention is given to the analysis of (specific types of) Topic constituents, aimed to show the feature-compositional nature of discourse categories. In particular, the notion of contrast is addressed, showing that discourse features are systematically associated with specific functional heads and require validation through Agree to obtain interpretation at the interfaces. In this line of analysis, the notion of phase proves to play a crucial role insofar as the syntactic visibility of embedded discourse-semantic features is dependent on their location in the edge or head (as opposed to the complement position) within the hosting phase. Keywords: contrast; conversational dynamics; givenness; phase; syntax-prosody interface