An Optimality Theoretic Analysis of Focus in Spanish

An Optimality Theoretic Analysis of Focus in Spanish and English Brad Hoot University of Illinois at Chicago UICTi. L Novemeber 13, 2009

The puzzle n Certain configurations of word order and main stress can only fit felicitously in certain contexts (1) (2) n [Context: What’s up? ] Kalyani bought a platypus. #Kalyani bought a platypus. * Bought a platypus Kalyani. [Context: Who bought a platypus? ] # Kalyani bought a platypus. * Bought a platypus Kalyani. How do we account for this?

The puzzle n Certain configurations of word order and main stress can only fit felicitously in certain contexts (3) [Context: What’s up? ] Kalyani compró un ornitorrinco. # Compró un ornitorrinco Kalyani. (4) [Context: Who bought a platypus? ] # Kalyani compró un ornitorrinco. Compró un ornitorrinco Kalyani. n How do we account for this?

Puzzle pieces Discourse status n Main stress n Word order n Different strategies for different languages n

Definitions n Presentational/information focus – that element that “provide[s] a resolution for a variable left open in the previous discourse” (López 2009: 23) (5) n n n What did John bring? John brought the wine. [λx John brought x] [x=the wine, ‘the wine’ is focus] Focus corresponds to the wh word in the context question Given – an utterance counts as given if it has a salient antecedent in the discourse and the context entails the existence of the utterance’s referent (see more formal definition by Schwarzschild 1999) Not considering: Contrastive focus, topics, and many other phenomena

Complicating the puzzle n Focus ‘projects’ (Selkirk 1984, 1995) (6) a. [Context: What did Mary buy a book about? ] Mary bought a book about [bats]F. b. [Context: What kind of book did Mary buy? ] Mary bought a book [about bats]F. c. [Context: What did Mary buy? ] Mary bought [a book about bats]F. d. [Context: What did Mary do? ] Mary [bought a book about bats]F. e. [Context: What’s been happening? ] [Mary bought a book about bats]F.

Complicating the puzzle n But not from everywhere (7) Mary bought a book about bats. [Context: Who bought a book about bats? ] # [Context: What did Mary do? ] (8) Compró un libro sobre murciélagos Mary. (9) Mary bought a book about bats. [Context: What did Mary buy that was about bats? ] # [Context: What did Mary do? ] (10) Sobre murciélagos, Mary compró un libro.

Complicating the puzzle n Anaphoric destressing/deaccenting – Given elements can’t bear stress (11) [Context: What did John’s mother always do? ] She [praised him]F. # She [praised him]F. (12) [Context: John used to drive Mary’s red convertible, but it’s in the shop. What will he drive now? ] He’ll drive her [blue convertible]F. # He’ll drive her [blue convertible]F.

Previous approaches n n There are many accounts of focus realization They can be organized by where they locate what drives focus realization n n Syntactic approaches (Rizzi 1997, López 2009) Prosodic approaches (Büring & Gutiérrez Bravo 2006, Féry & Samek Lodovici 2006, Reinhart 2006, Samek Lodovici 2005, Selkirk 1995, Szendrői 2001, inter alia) Semantic approaches (Schwarzschild 1999, Kučerová 2007) Derivational approaches have certain flaws n n n Focus on one component, incomplete picture Look ahead / Smart computational system Language specific / Parameterization

Optimality Theory GEN, EVAL, & violable, ranked constraints Advantages: n n n n Avoids problems in derivational approaches – No look ahead, no smart grammar, no ordering questions Puts everything together – No one component of the grammar motivates information structure Accounts easily for language variation – No need for parameterization, ideally extensible to all languages Captures the intuition that both Spanish and English have recourse to the same resources in the right situations (i. e. , contrastive focus) Many OT based analyses of focus (Büring & Gutiérrez Bravo 2001, Féry & Samek Lodovici 2006, German et al. 2006, Gutiérrez Bravo 2002, Keller & Alexopoulou 2001, Samek Lodovici 2005, Schwarzschild 1999, Szendroi 2001, inter alia)

Back to the pieces of the puzzle Discourse status n Main stress n Word order n Different strategies for different languages n

Constraints: Discourse Status Given: If a constituent is not F marked, it must be given. (Schwarzschild 1999) n n Violated if a non-F-marked constituent is not given. *F: F mark as little as possible, without violating Givenness. (Schwarzschild’s Avoid. F) n n Violated once for each F-mark. Focus. Prominence (FP): Main stress corresponds to an F marked element. n n Violated if main stress corresponds to an element that is not Fmarked. Destress. Given (DG): Given elements are not stressed. n n Violated if main stress corresponds to an element that is given.

Ranking: Discourse Status Given >> *F n Given and *F unranked with regard to other constraints n Let’s leave these aside n English: FP >> DG n Spanish: FP & DG unranked n

Ranking: Discourse Status FP a. ( ( b. DG * ) *)( * ) She [praised him] ( ( * ) *)( * ) She [praised him] *

Ranking: Discourse Status FP a. DG ( ( * ) *)( * ) She praised [him] * b. * ( ( * ) *)( * ) She praised [him] *

A note on main stress: Metrical grid prosody n Metrical grid analysis of Halle and Vergnaud 1987 (13) Prosodic structure ( * ) i. P ( * ) p. P ( * )( * ) PWd Lori sold a hedgehog

Constraints: Main stress (I) – Mapping syntax to prosodic structure (Truckenbrodt 1999) Assumption: general mechanisms for creating prosodic structure, à la Truckenbrodt (Exhaustivity, Non. Recursivity) Align Left(XP, p. P) (Align. XP): For each XP there is a p. P such that the left edge of XP coincides with the left edge of p. P. n n n Violated once for each XP whose left edge does not coincide with the left edge of a p. P. Stress XP: Each lexically headed XP must contain the head of a phonological phrase. n n Violated once each time none of the lexical items in a lexical XP is the head of its p. P. *Prosodic Phrase (*p. P): Do not create prosodic phrases. n n Violated once for each p. P.

Ranking: Main stress (I) – Mapping syntax to prosodic structure n n English: Stress XP >> *p. P >> Align XP Spanish: Align XP, Stress XP >> *p. P

Ranking: Main stress (I) – Mapping syntax to prosodic structure Stress. XP a. ( * )( * ) Lori sold a hedgehog to Meghanne b. ( * )( * ) Lori sold a hedgehog to Meghanne c. ( * ) Lori sold a hedgehog to Meghanne d. ( e. ( * )( * ) Lori sold a hedgehog to Meghanne Lori * ) sold a hedgehog to Meghanne *p. P Align. XP *** * ****W L *W **L **W *L ***W *W *** *W

Ranking: Main stress (I) – Mapping syntax to prosodic structure Align. XP a. ( * )( * ) Lori le vendió un erizo a Meghanne b. ( * )( Lori le vendió un erizo * ) a Meghanne c. ( * )( * Lori le vendió un erizo a Meghanne d. ( * )( * Lori le vendió un erizo e. ( f. ( * )( * ) Lori le vendió un erizo a Meghanne Stress. XP Lori le vendió un erizo *p. P **** **W *W **L a Meghanne **W **L * ) a Meghanne ***W *L ) ) *W ***L

Constraints: Main stress (II) – Determining main stress (Samek-Lodovici 2005) n Align Right(Head, i. P) (Align. Ri. P): Align the head of the i. P with its right boundary. n Violated once for each p. P head between the i. P head and the i. P’s right boundary.

Constraints: Word order (Samek-Lodovici 2005) n n Assumption: General mechanisms for building syntactic derivations EPP: Clauses have subjects. The highest A Specifier (or the Spec of I related heads such as T 0, Agr 0, Neg 0) must be overtly filled. n n Violated if a clause does not have an overt pre-verbal subject. Stay: No traces. n Violated once for each trace (or copy).

Ranking the constraints: Word order n EPP >> Stay

Ranking the constraints: All together now English: FP >> DG >> EPP >> (Stress. XP, Stay) (Align. Ri. P, *p. P) >> Align. XP n Spanish: (Align. Ri. P, Align. XP, Stress. XP) >> (FP, DG) >> (*p. P, EPP) >> Stay n

English Subject focus: FP >> EPP >> Stress. XP >> Align. Ri. P FP a. ( * )( * ) [Kalyani] bought a platypus Stress. XP ( * )( * ) [Kalyani] bought a platypus b. EPP c. d. * )( * ) bought a platypus [Kalyani] *p. P Align. XP Stay * **W *W ** * * L *W ( * ) [Kalyani] bought a platypus ( ( Align. Ri. P ** * * L *L **W * L ** * **W

English Object focus: Stay >> Align. Ri. P FP a. ( * )( * ) Lori sold a [hedgehog] to Meghanne Stress. XP ( * )( * ) Lori sold a [hedgehog] to Meghanne b. EPP c. d. e. f. g. h. Stay Align. Ri. P *p. P Align. XP * *** * * *W * L *** * ( * )( * ) Lori sold a [hedgehog] to Meghanne *W * L **L **W **W L *** * ****W L **L **W ( * )( * ) Lori sold a [hedgehog] to Meghanne *W ( * )( * ) Lori sold to Meghanne a [hedgehog] ( * )( * ) Lori sold a [hedgehog] to Meghanne ( ( * )( Lori sold to Meghanne * ) a [hedgehog] *W

Spanish Subject focus: FP, Align. Ri. P, Align. XP, Stress. XP >> *p. P, EPP FP a. ( * )( *)( * ) [Kalyani] compró un ornitorrinco c. ( * )( *)( * ) [Kalyani] compró un ornitorrinco d. ( * [Kalyani] compró Align. XP Stress. XP ) ) un ornitorrinco **W **W Stay * * L * *** *W EPP *** * ) *)( * ) Compró un ornitorrinco [Kalyani] *p. P *** ( ( b. Align. Ri. P L * *L L *

Spanish Object focus: No new info (though it accounts for p-movement) FP Align. Ri. P Align. XP a. ( * )( *)( * ) Lori le vendió a Meghanne un [erizo] b. ( * )( *)( * ) Lori le vendió un [erizo] a Meghanne c. ( * )( *)( * ) Lori le vendió un [erizo] a Meghanne *W d. ( * )( *)( * ) Lori le vendió a Meghanne un [erizo] *W e. ( * )( *)( * ) Lori le vendió un [erizo] a Meghanne Stress. XP *p. P EPP Stay **** ** **** *L *W ***L ** **** *L *W *W

Spanish Object Adjunct Focus: Align. Ri. P, Align. XP >> FP Align. Ri. P a. ( ( Stress. XP ( ( b. Align. XP c. d. e. * ) * )( *)( * ) La policía arrestó al [supuesto] asesino ( ( * )( *)( * ) La policía arrestó al [supuesto] asesino ( ( * ) * )( *)( * ) La policía arrestó al [supuesto] asesino FP *p. P EPP Stay * **** * *W L **** * ***W * **** * *W *W * ***L * *W *W L ***L *

Ranking the constraints: All together now English: FP >> DG >> EPP >> (Stress. XP, Stay) (Align. Ri. P, *p. P) >> Align. XP n Spanish: (Align. Ri. P, Align. XP, Stress. XP) >> (FP, DG) >> (*p. P, EPP) >> Stay n

New Data: Red Convertibles n n [Context: John used to drive Mary’s red convertible, but it’s in the shop. What will he drive now? ] (14) He’ll drive [her blue convertible]F. # He’ll drive [her blue convertible]F. (15) Conducirá [su descapotable azul]F. [Context: The CIA arrested the real murderer. Who did the police arrest? ] (16) The police arrested [the alleged murderer]F. (17) La policía arrestó [al supuesto asesino]F.

New Data: Red Convertibles Align. Ri. P Align. XP * )( *)( * ) La policía arrestó [al supuesto asesino] ( ( ***W d. ( ( * ) asesino] *W ( ( ) ) asesino] *W **** * ***L * *W c. *p. P **** ( ( b. FP DG * a. Stress. XP * ) * )( *)( * ) La policía arrestó [al supuesto asesino] * )( *)( La policía arrestó [al supuesto e. * * )( * La policía arrestó [al supuesto *W * *W EPP Stay

New Data: Red Convertibles FP a. b. c. d. DG EPP Stress. XP *p. P Align. XP * * )( * ) The police arrested [the alleged murderer] Stay Align. Ri. P ** ** ** ( ( * )( * ) The police arrested [the alleged murderer] *W * ( ( * )( * ) The police arrested [the alleged murderer] * *W ***W *L * *W ****W ( (

New data: Adjuncts n English adjuncts easily covered n Stress shift because FP & Stay >> Align. Ri. P Spanish object adjuncts covered n What about Spanish subject adjuncts? n

New Data: Spanish Subject Adjuncts Align. Ri. P a. b. ( * )( * ) [Tres] policías detuvieron al sospechoso EPP Stay * **** L * ***W L **** L * *W L **** * * **W * **** L * ( * )( * ) [Tres] policías detuvieron al sospechoso c. *p. P ( ( d. e. * )( * ) Detuvieron al sospechoso [tres] policías ( ( * )( * ) Detuvieron al sospechoso [tres] policías ( * )( * ) [Tres] policías detuvieron al sospechoso FP Align. XP Stress. XP

A conjecture n What if FP is an alignment type constraint?

A conjecture Align. Ri. P * )( * ) Detuvieron al sospechoso [tres] policías FP Align. XP Stress. XP *p. P EPP Stay a. ( ( * **** * * b. ( * )( * ) [Tres] policías detuvieron al sospechoso ***W **** L * c. ( * )( * ) [Tres] policías detuvieron al sospechoso ***W L **** L * d. ( ( *W L **** * * e. ( * )( * ) [Tres] policías detuvieron al sospechoso **W * **** L * * )( * ) Detuvieron al sospechoso [tres] policías

Conclusions n n n An OT analysis covers the data without the conceptual problems of derivational analyses This analysis brings together independently necessary constraints to derive focus marking in Spanish and English without recourse to language specific constraints, as desired (unlike Büring & Gutiérrez Bravo 2006) New claim: Prosodic constraints outrank all other constraints in Spanish, including discourse constraints This analysis adds to the empirical coverage – Red Convertibles and Adjuncts There are still data to explain, this is a work in progress

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