Investigating interfaces: an experimental approach to focus in Sicilian Italian

This paper describes an investigation of the syntax-prosody interface in the expression of focus in Sicilian Italian. It finds evidence of a generalised reversal of the articulation of information structure, with new information often preceding old, and of intonational differentiation between focus types. Introduction A pressing question in current linguistic theory is how different components of language interact. Our investigation considers the prosody and syntax interaction in the expression of focus. A major challenge for interface studies is reconciling differences in methodology and theoretical approach inherent in each discipline. This is particularly true for an investigation of focus, a phenomenon particularly difficult to elicit under experimental controls. Our study examines focus in two varieties of Sicilian Italian. This variety is of particular interest because, although the ‘default’ word order (i.e. for ‘broad focus’) is VO, as in other varieties of Italian, a very frequent OV order is attested with the expression of New Information Focus (see Poletto and Benincà, 2002 and Cruschina, 2006). This again contrasts with Italian where the typical partition of a sentence sees the old information preceding the new information (see example 1), while the preverbal position is typically available only for Contrastive Focus (see example 2): (1) A. Cosa mangia Gianni? ‘What does John eat?’ B. Gianni mangia una mela ‘John eats an apple’ (2) A Gianni mangia una pera? John eats a pear? No, una mela mangia No, an apple he eats It has been argued that in Sicilian Italian a preverbal position can be targeted not only by contrastively focused material, but also by new information focus. ITRW on Experimental Linguistics Athens, Greece August 28-30, 2006 ISCA Archive http://www.isca-speech.org/archive