Focus fronting, unexpectedness, and evaluative implicatures

Abstract

This paper discusses the fronting of a focal constituent to a clauseinitial position which, in various languages, is associated with an import of unexpectedness. We provide prosodic and syntactic evidence from Italian showing that this phenomenon has distinctive grammatical properties with respect to other instances of "focus fronting". We argue that the fronted constituent bears narrow focus, and that the unexpectedness import conveys that the asserted proposition is less likely than one or more distinct focus alternatives (see Grosz 2011). We characterize this import as a conventional implicature, and we argue that likelihood is interpreted with respect to an informative modal base which is shared by the conversational community (the context set). We show that the unexpectedness import expressed by a speaker can be accepted or rejected by the other discourse participants: thus, it qualifies as an evaluative commitment of the speaker and, when accepted by the interlocutors, it can give rise to a shared evaluation.

Particle topicalization and German clause structure

“…Given such cases, we argue, in accordance with Bianchi et al (2016), that the respective operator responsible for the effect of unexpectedness should be below illocutionary force, as also suggested by Trotzke and Turco (2015) in a different context:…”

(Dis)agreement, polarity, and focus: Answering negative polar questions in Italian

“…Despite its intuitive appeal, this approach may not be general enough. Nuclear polar questions in Italian also allow for a different interpretation, conveying the conventional implicature that the proposition denoted by the sentence radical is noteworthy or unexpected as compared to other salient alternative propositions (Cruschina 2012: chapter 5;Bianchi, Bocci & Cruschina 2016). As far as we can tell, under this interpretation the answering pattern would be the same, and yet this interpretation cannot be conveyed by a hidden cleft structure.…”

“…As for Holmberg's insight that polar questions have an "open polarity", we assume that this is directly introduced by the Polar Question operator merged above the sentence radical, which takes in input the proposition expressed by the latter and returns a polar set, consisting of the proposition itself and its negation (cf. Bianchi, Bocci &.…”

“…Bianchi, Bocci & Cruschina 2016;. Informally, the speaker presupposes that one in a set of salient propositions of the form "I must not spray x with insecticide" is true, and asks whether the proposition expressed by the sentence radical is in fact the one that is true.…”

Towards a typology of focus: Subject position and microvariation at the discourse–syntax interface

“…Thus, unexpectedness and surprise with respect to some event are involved in this type of focus (cf. Bianchi et al, 2014):…”