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The Expression of Information Structure
A documentation of its diversity across Africa
Editors
This book analyzes the different patterns found across subsaharan Africa to express information structure. Based on languages from all four African language phyla, it documents the great diversity of linguistic means used to encode information-structural phenomena and is therefore highly relevant for some of the most pertinent questions in modern linguistic theory. The special contribution of this volume is the perspective on a variety of information-structurally related phenomena which go far beyond classical notions such as focus and topic. Detailed investigations are dedicated to so far less discussed focal subcategories, like focus on verbal operators or the thetic-categorical distinction. Finally, the information-structural configuration of unmarked, canonical sentence structures is recognized. The papers provide evidence that the formal means to encode information-structural categories range from means such as morphological markers or syntactic operations, famous in linguistics, to less well-known strategies, such as defocalization rather than focalization.
[Typological Studies in Language, 91] 2010. xii, 383 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Published online on 13 April 2010
Published online on 13 April 2010
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
- IntroductionInes Fiedler and Anne Schwarz | pp. vii–xii
- Information structure marking in Sandawe textsHelen Eaton | pp. 1–34
- Topic and focus fields in NakiJeff Good | pp. 35–68
- The relation between focus and theticity in the Tuu familyTom Güldemann | pp. 69–94
- Focus marking in Aghem: Syntax or semantics?Larry M. Hyman | pp. 95–116
- On the obligatoriness of focus marking: Evidence from Tar B’armaPeggy Jacob | pp. 117–144
- Focalisation and defocalisation in IsuRoland Kießling | pp. 145–164
- Discourse function of inverted passives in Makua-Marevone narrativesOliver Kröger | pp. 165–192
- Topic-focus articulation in Taqbaylit and Tashelhit BerberAmina Mettouchi and Axel Fleisch | pp. 193–232
- Focus in Atlantic languagesStéphane Robert | pp. 233–260
- Topic and focus construction asymmetryRonald P. Schaefer and Francis Oisaghaede Egbokhare | pp. 261–286
- Verb-and-predication focus markers in GurAnne Schwarz | pp. 287–314
- Why contrast matters: Information structure in Gawwada (East Cushitic)Mauro Tosco | pp. 315–348
- Focus and the Ejagham verb systemJohn R. Watters | pp. 349–376
- Language index | p. 377
- Subject index | pp. 379–383
“Through its presentation of studies of information structure in languages from all of the major indigenous language phyla of Africa this volume makes a significant contribution to this increasingly important area of linguistic theory and analysis. Of particular interest are the investigations of special verb-focus marking in several languages, a phenomenon to which insufficient attention has been paid in the past. This volume is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the typological variation in information structure across languages.”
Robert D. Van Valin Jr., Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf
Cited by (7)
Cited by seven other publications
Vydrina, Alexandra
Fernandez-Vest, M.M.Jocelyne & Helle Metslang
Güldemann, Tom
2016. Maximal backgrounding = focus without (necessary) focus encoding. Studies in Language 40:3 ► pp. 551 ff.
Mihas, Elena
2016. Contrastive focus-marking and nominalization in Northern Kampa (Arawak) of Peru. Studies in Language 40:2 ► pp. 414 ff.
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