Acta Linguistica Hungarica
Volume/Issue:
Volume 50: Issue 3-4
Apparent scope inversion under the rise fall contour
Authors:
Katalin É. Kiss Katalin MTA Nyelvtudományi Intézet 1068 Bp. Benczúr u. 33.

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and
Beáta Gyuris MTA Nyelvtudományi Intézet Research Institute for Linguistics 1068 Bp. Benczúr u. 33.

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Pages:
371–404
Online Publication Date:
22 Jul 2005
Publication Date:
01 Nov 2003
Article Category:
Research Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1556/aling.50.2003.3-4.3
Keywords:
intonation; intonation; contrastive topic; non-monotonic determiners; quantifiers; semantic interpretation
Full access

This paper proposes an explanation of the apparent scope inversion attested in sentences pronounced with a rise fall intonation contour. It argues that a left-peripheral quantifier pronounced with a (fall-)rise is in topic position (Spec, TopP). A topic phrase must refer to an individual already present in the domain of discourse-that which will be predicated about in the sentence. Non-individual-denoting expressions, among them quantifiers, can also be made suitable for the topic role if they are assumed to denote a property which the rest of the sentence predicates some higher-order property about. A quantifier functioning as a contrastive topic denotes a property of plural individuals, and its apparent narrow scope arises from the fact that it is considered to be a predicate over a variable inherent in the lexical representation of the verb.

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Cover Acta Linguistica Hungarica
Acta Linguistica Hungarica
Print ISSN:
1216-8076
Online ISSN:
1588-2624

Editors

Editor(s)-in-Chief: Katalin É. Kiss,
Ferenc Kiefer

Editor: Éva Dékány

Technical Editor: Zoltán G. Kiss

Review Editor: Beáta Gyuris

Editorial Board

  • Anne Abeillé
  • Željko Bošković
  • Marcel den Dikken
  • Hans-Martin Gärtner
  • Elly van Gelderen
  • Anders Holmberg
  • Katarzyna Jaszczolt
  • István Kenesei
  • Anikó Lipták
  • Katalin Mády
  • Gereon Müller
  • Csaba Pléh
  • Giampaolo Salvi
  • Irina Sekerina
  • Péter Siptár
  • Gregory Stump
  • Peter Svenonius
  • Anne Tamm
  • Akira Watanabe
  • Jeroen van de Weijer

Acta Linguistica Academica
Address: Benczúr u. 33. HU–1068 Budapest, Hungary
Phone: (+36 1) 351 0413; (+36 1) 321 4830 ext. 154
Fax: (36 1) 322 9297
E-mail: ala@nytud.mta.hu

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Acta Linguistica Hungarica
Language English
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Foundation		 1951
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ISSN 1216-8076 (Print)
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