Focus: Linguistic, Cognitive, and Computational Perspectives (review)

This volume brings together the contributions of scholars who have theoretical, psychological, and descriptive approaches to focus. These authors have as a common aim to work out some formal representation of the semantic aspects of linguistic communication.

Jeanette Gundel (293–305) reviews the literature on focus and distinguishes between psychological focus, semantic focus—in the sense of new information—and contrastive focus which is conveyed by linguistic prominence. Semantic focus is truth-conditionally relevant but does not usually bring an object into the focus of attention; contrastive focus, on the other hand, is not truth-conditionally relevant but is certain to bring an object into psychological focus.

Barbara Partee (213–31) compares recent work in formal semantics with the work done by the Prague school. She believes that focus phenomena lead us to rethink the way we conceive of the relations among syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Kees van Deemter (3–17) considers a number of cases of contrasting accents which are not satisfactorily accounted for by theories of ‘given’ and ‘new’. He develops a theory based on the logical notion of contrariety. Ellen F. Prince’s chapter (82–104) on subject pro-drop is empirically oriented. She demonstrates that pro-drop is not a unitary phenomenon. Mats Rooth (232–46) addresses the issue of whether the semantics of intonational focus can be built up so as to yield existential presupposition in the framework of alternative semantics. Regine Eckardt (166–86) discusses cases in which nominal quantifiers show the same behavior as adverbial quantifiers when focus is considered and claims that the interpretation of the arguments of a quantifier is focus driven. Baart Geurts and Rob van der Sandt (268–92) argue that given a few assumptions concerning the representation of quantifiers, the anaphoric view of presupposition accounts for the ways in which quantificational domains can be restricted. They show that they can be restricted by anaphoric take-up of contextual information, by accommodation of presupposed material, and by means of focusing. Henriette de Swart, in her brilliant and original essay (336–62), develops an analysis of phrasal and clausal time adverbials that does not make use of reference times. She argues that theories that resort to the Reichenbachian view are not adequate because they do not explain the difference in meaning between preposed and postponed time adverbials. The key to the interpretation of time rests on the understanding that their presuppositional character allows them to be anchored to the time axis without having to depend on the rhetorical relations established in the local context.

The authors do their very best to provide an account of focus phenomena and of their ramifications, and their efforts shed light on one of the most complex issues in linguistic theories. I am sure this book will be enjoyed by experts in the field, although I am less sure that students might enjoy it as the papers are sometimes not lengthy enough or clear enough to be read easily by nonspecialists.