Article published in:
Languages and Cultures in Contrast and ComparisonEdited by María de los Ángeles Gómez González, J. Lachlan Mackenzie and Elsa M. González Álvarez
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 175] 2008
► pp. 33–68
Last things first: An FDG approach to clause-final focus constituents in Spanish and English
Mike Hannay | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Elena Martínez Caro | Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Within Functional Grammar it has been claimed that a small set of languages, including Polish and Dutch, may have a special clause-final position reserved for certain kinds of Focus constituents. But it has also been suggested that there is insufficient evidence to establish whether this is actually a pragmatically marked position or whether elements which end up in final position simply acquire a kind of natural relief. In this paper we compare discourse data from Spanish and English, which have different basic functional patterns, within Functional Discourse Grammar and conclude that the behaviour of clause-final focal elements in specific constructions in these languages may indeed warrant the positing of special focus positions, at least from a functional point of view.
Published online: 26 June 2008
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.175.05han
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.175.05han
Cited by
Cited by 3 other publications
Gómez González, María de los Ángeles
Martínez Caro, Elena
Moore, Nick
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