231145 The syntax of Focus and Focus particles (BS) (WiSe 2025/2026)

This seminar mainly explores the syntax of focus as an information structural notion. We will begin with a brief general introduction to the phonology and semantics of focus. Then, we will delve into discussing the syntax of focus from a cartographic perspective, which includes the Split-CP hypothesis, as well as the low/clause-internal focus hypothesis. Afterwards, we will consider specific case studies involving (a) discourse-configurational languages, (e.g., Hungarian), (b) languages with focus morphosyntax (e.g., African languages), (c) focus types, such as identificational focus, information focus, and mirative focus fronting. If time permits, we will round off the seminar by looking at focus marking vs interpretation mismatches; a phenomenon called `Focus Anti-pied-piping' or `Pars pro toto (PPT) focus movement' in the literature.