The Meaning of Topic and Focus: The 59th Bridge Street Accent

This study provides an illuminating and ground-breaking account of the complex interaction of intonational phenomena, semantics and pragmatics. Based on examples from German and English, and centred on an analysis of the fall-rise intonation contour, a semantic interpretation for two different pitch accents - Focus and Topic - is developed. The cross-sentence, as well as the sentence internal semantic effects of these accents, follow from the given treatment. The account is based on Montogovian possible world semantics and Chomskian generative syntax. Based on examples from German and English, this study provides an illuminating and ground-breaking account of the complex interaction of intonational phenomena, semantics and pragmatics.