Focus in Words with Truth Values

This article analyses the prosodic properties of words with truth values in Turkish. These are morphologically complex items that are finite predicates and that can function as declarative sentences. Researchers who have worked on morphologically complex words have generally taken the view that stre...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Göksel, Asli
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2010
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/72531
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/72531
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Contrastive focus
Presentational focus
Prosody
Word structure
Word stress
Information structure
Turkish
Foco contrastivo
Foco informativo
Prosodia
Estructura de la palabra
Acento de la palabra
Estructura informativa
Turco
Foco apresentacional
Prosódia
Estructura da palavra
Acento de palabra
Estructura informacional
Descripción
Sumario:This article analyses the prosodic properties of words with truth values in Turkish. These are morphologically complex items that are finite predicates and that can function as declarative sentences. Researchers who have worked on morphologically complex words have generally taken the view that stress occupies a unique position and that this is a consequence of their morphophonological properties. Here we draw attention to data originally due to Sebüktekin (1984) that challenge this position. This data show that the position of stress is variable in morphologically complex words that are declarative constructions, an outcome which is natural given that prosodic prominence as the phonological correlate of focus is expected to be found in all declaratives. The variation in prominence will thus be argued to be similar to that which occurs in sentences with multiple constituents, and that which reflects the difference between presentational and contrastive focus. The investigation thus brings together two separate lines of research concerning Turkish: the location of stress in morphologically complex words, and the location of pitch in presentational and contrastive focus sentences. The findings will be discussed in the context of their implications for hierarchical views of prosodic prominence and hypotheses concerning focus-alignment