Argument-focus and predicate-focus structure in Ancient Greek: Word order and phonology

• Giuseppe G.A. Celano ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Pavia

     University of Pavia

     Pavía, Italia

     
• Localización: Studies in language: International Journal Sponsored by The Foundation "Foundations of Language", ISSN 0378-4177, Vol. 37, Nº 2, 2013, págs. 241-266
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • In this article, Ancient Greek is shown to allow two word orders, Focus-Verb and Verb-Focus, independently of whether the verb is in focus or in the presupposition. Relying on the behavior of postpositives and Lambrecht’s Principle of Accent Projection, I argue that such word orders are integrated into prosodic constituents where the main sentence accent falls to either the left (Focus-Verb) or the right (Verb-Focus) of the verb. Such an alternation is suggested to be due to a binary iconic contrast whereby the more prominent the focus is, the earlier it is placed.