Focus Particles in German

Syntax, prosody, and information structure

Stefan Sudhoff

Hardbound – Available

ISBN 9789027255341 | EUR 105.00 | USD 158.00

e-Book –

ISBN 9789027288561 | EUR 105.00 | USD 158.00

This study explores the grammar of focus particles in German. It gives a thorough description and analysis of focus particle constructions and links their syntactic, semantic, and information structural properties to their prosodic characteristics. The study also shows that focus particles present a particularly well-suited subject for the investigation of the modularity of grammar in general. The first part of the book deals with the syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of focus particle constructions and results in a modular account of the relation between their word order, information structure, and meaning. The second part presents a corpus study and several speech production and perception experiments investigating the prosodic realization of the constructions. The integration of these two lines of research results in a comprehensive theory of focus particles and of the interaction of grammar and information structure in German.

[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 151] 2010. xiii, 335 pp.

Publishing status: Available
Published online on 13 April 2010

https://doi.org/10.1075/la.151

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments | p. xi

Abbreviations and notational conventions | p. xiii

1. Introduction | pp. 1–4

2. Theoretical background | pp. 5–31

3. The semantics of focus particles | pp. 33–57

4. Focus particles, syntax, and information structure | pp. 59–148

5. The scope of focus particles | pp. 149–171

6. The prosody of sentences with stressed additive focus particles | pp. 173–246

7. Focus particles and contrast | pp. 247–287

8. Conclusion | pp. 289–291

Appendix | pp. 293–306

Name index | pp. 325–327

Subject index | pp. 329–335

“This is an impressive work of scholarship.”

Bob Ladd, University of Edinburgh

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This list is based on CrossRef data as of 15 september 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

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