Open AccessTowards a Fine-Grained Theory of Focus
Author(s) -
Chiara Dal Farra
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
annali di ca' foscari. serie occidentale
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2499-2232
pISSN - 2499-1562
DOI - 10.30687/annoc/2499-1562/2018/01/002
Subject(s) - focus (optics) , feature (linguistics) , parametrization (atmospheric modeling) , computer science , subject (documents) , linguistics , mathematics , artificial intelligence , theoretical computer science , physics , philosophy , quantum mechanics , library science , optics , radiative transfer
This paper investigates the roles of focus, arguing that such a notion is too wide and can be applied to several phenomena. I show that focus needs to be further specified for (at least) another feature and is therefore made of smaller primitive traits. These can combine to create bundles of features, which give rise to the several types of foci we know. Moreover, these features are subject to parametrization and can thus account for cross-linguistic differences.