| Description |
The aim of the present work is to analyse the pragmatic phenomenon of focus and the interpretative effects of focus conveyed by focus marlers in spoken Italian, using a corpus-based methodology. Starting from the comparison of various theories around the concept of focus (inter alia, Rooth, 1992; Erteschik-Shir, 1997; É. Kiss, 1998; Zimmermann & Onea, 2011; Göbel, 2022), its linguistic correlates will be outlined on various levels of analysis (phonetic, morphosyntactic, semantic and pragmatic). Furthermore, this will be presented from an interpretation-based (Matić & Wedgwood, 2013), integrated with the principles of Relevance Theory (Sperber & Wilson, 1986). Next, focus markers will be defined according to their syntactic and pragmatic properties, and according to the semantic classification elaborated by Ricca (1999). Next, the research methodologies adopted will be illustrated, focusing on the approach adopted (Top-Down), the corpus on which the study was conducted, the KiParla (Mauri, et al., 2019), and the tests used in the research phase. We will continue with the presentation of the results regarding the syntactic domains on which the focusers act (syntagmas or clauses ) and their position in the utterance. Finally, we will focus on the semantics of the individual focalisers and the syntactic characteristics according to the meaning conveyed. In addition, the pragmatic functions of the focus markers, the contexts of occurrence and their pragmatic effects will be analysed, with a focus on correlations between pragmatic functions and syntactic units. Differences between syntagmas and clauses will lead to an analysis of pragmatic effects according to the level of focus. We will then move on to an analysis of the pragmatic-interpretive effects of focus: the correlations between pragmatic-interpretive effects (specifically: new information, alternative and coherence between question and answer) and syntactic units will be examined, highlighting the different pragmatic levels on which the focusing functions operate (identifying, emphatic and focus-shifting) and the correlations between the focalisation levels.
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