A Linearization-Based Theory of Non-Constituent Focus

In this paper, we argue, mainly on the basis of Japanese data, that we need a theory of focus in which a contiguous sequence of expressions that does not form a morphosyntactic constituent is allowed to serve as a single focus, rather than merely as a sequence of two or more foci, and then present such a theory within the framework of linearization-based HPSG. In the proposed theory, prosodic constituents (“domain objects” in the HPSG parlance), rather than morphosyntactic constituents (“signs”), are claimed to be the principal carriers of semantic information, and meaning assembly is carried out on the basis of prosodic, rather than syntactic, structure. This theory, if correct, means that there is a certain dissociation between the morphosyntactic structure of a sentence and the way its parts are semantically put together. The purpose of this paper is to present a linguistically adequate theory of nonconstituent focus. We use the term focus in the same way as authors such as Rooth and Krifka; we say that a linguistic expression or a sequence thereof is a focus when it is interpreted as contrasting with some other entity (or entities) of the same type. A non-constituent focus is a contiguous sequence of expressions that does not form a morphosyntactic constituent and yet is interpreted as a single focus. In section 1, we review two existing theories of non-constituent focus, and argue that neither of them is satisfactory. In section 2, we describe a version of HPSG in which semantic composition is carried out largely on the basis of prosodic, rather than syntactic, structure. And in section 3, we present our theory of non-constituent focus, exploiting the key features of the theoretical framework described in section 2. The paper will conclude with an observation regarding whether or not the theory proposed in this paper is consistent with the principle of compositionality. 1 Previous theories of (apparent) non-constituent focus In this section, we will review two existing theories of non-constituent focus: a theory based on the notion of higher-order unification (Pulman (1997)) and a theory that relies on a sophisticated notion of givenness (Schwarzschild (1999)).