Contrast, Verum Focus and Anaphora: The Case of et pourtant si/non in French

Autor: Joan Busquets
Přispěvatelé: Cognition, Langues, Langage, Ergonomie (CLLE-ERSS), Université Bordeaux Montaigne-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès (UT2J)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Bordeaux Montaigne
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Linguistics
Journal of Linguistics, Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2021, 57 (2), pp.279-319. ⟨10.1017/S0022226720000195⟩
Journal of Linguistics, Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2020, ⟨10.1017/S0022226720000195⟩
ISSN: 0022-2267
1469-7742
DOI: 10.1017/S0022226720000195⟩
Popis: This study examines the anaphoric status of the sequenceet pourtant si/nonin French. This sequence displays some properties not only of TP-Ellipsis but also of propositional anaphora. Consequently, the antecedent of this sequence can be recovered by means of either type of anaphoric process. I argue that the salient and relevant antecedent is constrained by the presence of a modalized environment. I claim that the discursive markerpourtantis assimilated to a modal operator (Jayez 1988, Martin 1987) expressingdiscourse contrastbetween two propositions anchored in two possible worlds that are not contradictory.Polarity Particles(POLPARTS) involved in this sequence are analyzed as emphasizing the truth of a proposition. As such, they are conveyingsemantic contrastbetween two polarities, that of a salient and accessible discourse antecedent and that of the missing part afteret pourtant si/non. This is how POLPARTS upgrade the Common Ground. I develop a focus-based account forVerum Focus, building on alternatives along the lines of Hardt & Romero (2004). I suggest that the scope of an epistemic operator (Romero & Han 2004) and the conditions of use are relevant in order to reconstruct the adequate antecedent, which is not possible in an analysis based solely on lexical insertion and upgrading the Question Under Discussion (qud) by conditions governing the felicitous use ofet pourtant si/non.
Databáze: OpenAIRE