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1、InterpretingfocusBartGeurtsRobvanderSandtUniversityofNijmegenAbstractAlthoughitiswidelyagreed,ifoftenonlytacitly,thatthereisacloseconnectionbetweenfocusandpresupposition,recentresearchhastendedtoshyawayfromthenullhypothesis,whichisthatfocusissystematicallyassociatedwithpresupposi
2、tionalongthefollowinglines:TheBackground-PresuppositionRule(BPR)Wheneverfocusinggivesrisetoabackgroundλx.ϕ(x),thereisapresuppositiontotheeffectthatλx.ϕ(x)holdsofsomeindividual.Thispaperaimstoshow,first,thattheevidenceinfavouroftheBPRisinfactrathergood,andattemptstoclarifyitsroleint
3、heinterpretationoffocusparticleslike‘only’and‘too’,arguingthatunliketheformerthelatterisfocus-sensitiveinanidiosyncraticway,addingitsowninterpret-ativeconstraintstothoseoftheBPR.ThelastpartofthepaperdiscussesvariousobjectionsthathavebeenraisedagainsttheBPR,takingacloserlookatthep
4、eculiaritiesof‘nobody’and‘somebody’,andcomparingtheinterpretativeeffectsoffocusingwiththoseofit-clefts.11IntroductionThephenomenongenerallyknownasfocusingraisestwoquestions.First:whatisit?Second:howdoesitaffectinterpretation?Thispaperdiscussesthesecondquestion,andproposesapartialan
5、swertoit.Thefirstquestionwillnotbeaddressedhere.Ofcourse,wewillwehavetoadoptcertainassumptionsabouthowitistobeanswered,butnoneofourpremissesareparticularlycontroversial.Tobeginwith,weassumethatfocusingdividesthecontentofanexpression,asutteredonagivenoccasion,intotwoparts:focusandb
6、ackground.Forexample:(1)[Fred]Frobbedthebank.Herethefocusisthesemanticcorrelateof‘Fred’;thebackgroundisthesemanticcorrelateof‘...robbedthebank’,whichmaybeviewedasanopenproposition,aproperty,orwhatever.Atanyrate,takenonitsownthebackgroundof(1)doesnotentailthatsomeonerobbedthebank.
7、Onefurtherassumptionregardingthephenomenologyoffocusingisthat,typically,focusedinformationisintonationallyprominentwhilstbackgroundedinformationisnot.Wewillnotassumethatafocusisalwayssignaledbyintonationalprominence,norwillweassumethecontrary.Inotherwords,weprefernottocommitourse
8、lvesastowhetherthedivisionbetweenfocusan
