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Consider the Alternatives: Focus in Contrast and Context

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Modeling and Using Context (CONTEXT 2001)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 2116))

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Abstract

This paper addresses two proposed properties of the kind of linguistic focus connected to alternatives in discourse: contrast and exhaustiveness. Using data occurring in spontaneous spoken English, it argues that neither contrast nor exhaustiveness is inherent to a particular category of focus. These characteristics can be derived from the contexts in which focus occurs, and thus do not need to be considered an inherent part of the meaning of focus. Contrast and exhaustiveness thus result from pragmatic aspects rather than from linguistic features of focus. They can be understood to arise from the interaction of the meaning of focus with the pragmatics of the context in which it occurs.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. UiL-OTS, Universiteit Utrecht, Trans 10, 3572, JK Utrecht, Netherlands

    Jocelyn Cohan

Authors
  1. Jocelyn Cohan
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Engineering, Bilkent University, Bilkent, Ankara, 06533, Turkey

    Varol Akman

  2. Department of Computer and Management Sciences, University of Trento, 38100, Trento, Italy

    Paolo Bouquet

  3. Philosophy Department, University of Michigan, 2251 Angell Hall, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1003, USA

    Richmond Thomason

  4. Philosophy Department, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 4HN, Scotland, UK

    Roger Young

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© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Cohan, J. (2001). Consider the Alternatives: Focus in Contrast and Context. In: Akman, V., Bouquet, P., Thomason, R., Young, R. (eds) Modeling and Using Context. CONTEXT 2001. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 2116. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-44607-9_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-44607-9_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-42379-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-44607-1

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