The effects of focus typology on Basque structure: syntax, prosody and their interface.

Abstract

The central aim of this thesis is to investigate focus constructions in Basque, a language whose word order exhibits a great degree of freedom, heavily affected by the informational values of its constructions. Focalized phrases can surface in any position of the sentence, but, according to most of the previous literature (e.g. Laka 1990; Elordieta 2001), they necessarily appear left-adjacent to the verbal complex [prt + aux]. However, a number of different structures in which this condition is not met can be found (Ortiz De Urbina 2002; Iruntzun 2005) and thus, the investigation of focus typology is essential to account for the variation in the apparent fixed position of focalized phrases. Following Jayaseelan (2001), I suggest that two focus positions can be identified, both filled by moved constituents: one in the CP and one in the low periphery above v*P that, according to Giorgi (2016), can also host propositional adverbs. In line with antisymmetry (Kayne 2004), I assume a universal Spec – Head – Comp configuration and a basic SVO order Then, I investigate the relation between syntax and prosody which, crucially, interact in the identification of foci. I thus analysed a series of elicited sentences containing focus, in order to observe to what extent focus typology can affect, or be affected by, the prosodic structure of Basque.