Confronting Focus Strategies in Finnish and in Italian: An Experimental Study on Object Focusing
Focus is cross-linguistically associated with a number of different strategies, such as fronting, clefting, markers, and prosody. In some cases, the choice between one strategy or another is determined by language-specific rules, while in others, two or more strategies seem to be optional, and thus,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Languages |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/8/1/32 |
| _version_ | 1797610681577504768 |
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| author | Elina Ylinärä Giorgio Carella Mara Frascarelli |
| author_facet | Elina Ylinärä Giorgio Carella Mara Frascarelli |
| author_sort | Elina Ylinärä |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Focus is cross-linguistically associated with a number of different strategies, such as fronting, clefting, markers, and prosody. In some cases, the choice between one strategy or another is determined by language-specific rules, while in others, two or more strategies seem to be optional, and thus, somehow “unpredictable”. In this experimental study, we investigate the syntactic strategies employed in object focusing in Finnish and in Italian by examining the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic features underlying the choice of a specific Focus strategy. In particular, the present experiment is aimed to investigate two strategies employed in both languages for object Focus realization, namely, Focus in situ and fronting, in order to verify whether the choice between them is influenced by a specific type of feature, a combination of Focus-related features, the verb category involved, or the interplay between these three factors. The incidence of alternative constructions, in particular clefting in Italian and the <i>-hAn</i> discourse marker in Finnish, is also taken into consideration, and relevant asymmetries are analyzed in a comprehensive, comparative account. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T06:18:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d984c4f59dd940269445e876c80c65d7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2226-471X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T06:18:36Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Languages |
| spelling | doaj.art-d984c4f59dd940269445e876c80c65d72023-11-17T12:08:55ZengMDPI AGLanguages2226-471X2023-01-01813210.3390/languages8010032Confronting Focus Strategies in Finnish and in Italian: An Experimental Study on Object FocusingElina Ylinärä0Giorgio Carella1Mara Frascarelli2Department of Literary, Linguistic and Comparative Studies, University of Naples L’Orientale, 80121 Naples, ItalyDepartment of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, University of Roma Tre, 00146 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, University of Roma Tre, 00146 Rome, ItalyFocus is cross-linguistically associated with a number of different strategies, such as fronting, clefting, markers, and prosody. In some cases, the choice between one strategy or another is determined by language-specific rules, while in others, two or more strategies seem to be optional, and thus, somehow “unpredictable”. In this experimental study, we investigate the syntactic strategies employed in object focusing in Finnish and in Italian by examining the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic features underlying the choice of a specific Focus strategy. In particular, the present experiment is aimed to investigate two strategies employed in both languages for object Focus realization, namely, Focus in situ and fronting, in order to verify whether the choice between them is influenced by a specific type of feature, a combination of Focus-related features, the verb category involved, or the interplay between these three factors. The incidence of alternative constructions, in particular clefting in Italian and the <i>-hAn</i> discourse marker in Finnish, is also taken into consideration, and relevant asymmetries are analyzed in a comprehensive, comparative account.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/8/1/32FocusexhaustivitycorrectionFocus strategiesfrontingFocus operator |
| spellingShingle | Elina Ylinärä Giorgio Carella Mara Frascarelli Confronting Focus Strategies in Finnish and in Italian: An Experimental Study on Object Focusing Languages Focus exhaustivity correction Focus strategies fronting Focus operator |
| title | Confronting Focus Strategies in Finnish and in Italian: An Experimental Study on Object Focusing |
| title_full | Confronting Focus Strategies in Finnish and in Italian: An Experimental Study on Object Focusing |
| title_fullStr | Confronting Focus Strategies in Finnish and in Italian: An Experimental Study on Object Focusing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Confronting Focus Strategies in Finnish and in Italian: An Experimental Study on Object Focusing |
| title_short | Confronting Focus Strategies in Finnish and in Italian: An Experimental Study on Object Focusing |
| title_sort | confronting focus strategies in finnish and in italian an experimental study on object focusing |
| topic | Focus exhaustivity correction Focus strategies fronting Focus operator |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/8/1/32 |
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