The Meaning of Topic and Focus: The 59th Street Bridge Accent (Routledge Studies in Germanic Linguistics)

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. Read more Continue reading Read less ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Büring, Daniel --This text refers to the hardcover edition. Read more Continue reading Read less