Abstract
This paper discusses the fronting of a focal constituent to a clause-initial 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. http://dx.doi.org/10.3765/sp.9.3 BibTeX info
Highlights
In various languages we observe the fronting of a focal constituent, bearing the main prosodic prominence, to a left-peripheral position
The unexpectedness import can be accepted or rejected by the other discourse participants, depending on the ordering source that is adopted: in this respect, it differs from Potts’s expressive meaning
33 A distinct possible reason for the rejection is that the modal bases, rather than the ordering sources, are not aligned: this will be the case when the common ground is defective in Stalnaker’s (1978) sense
Summary
In various languages we observe the fronting of a focal constituent, bearing the main prosodic prominence, to a left-peripheral position. This structure may convey different interpretive effects in specific contexts. One interesting instance of such “focus fronting” conveys that the proffered information is unexpected or surprising (see, a.o., Zimmermann 2007, Hartmann & Zimmermann 2007 on Hausa; Abeillé, Godard & Sabio 2008 on the French construction II; Frey 2010 on German; Cruschina 2012 on Sicilian dialects). Ils you know what is happened the candidate of-the boss they ont refusé!. They refused the boss’s candidate!’ (French; Abeillé, Godard & Sabio 2008, (19a)) Have.3pl refused ‘You know what happened? They refused the boss’s candidate!’ (French; Abeillé, Godard & Sabio 2008, (19a))
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