Pernilla Hallonsten Halling

az
the
unalmas
boring
jelentéseket
reports.acc
olvassa.
read.3sg

‘It is the boring reports that Peter reads.’

2. 
   Péter
   

Peter
fogja
will.3sg
olvasni
read.inf
a
the
Hamlet-et.
Hamlet

‘Peter will read Hamlet.’

3. 
   Mari
   

Mari
szépen

beautifully

vasalta
ironed
ki
out
az
the
inget.
shirt.acc

‘Mari ironed the shirt beautifully.’

³ Although new information is often focused, it should be noted that the two cannot be equated, cf. Lambrecht (1994: 206).

In (3.8c), the focused Adverb szépen ‘beautifully’ is also semantically and pragmatically predicate-like (Valéria Molnár, p.c.). A different strategy for indicating focus is with a specific marker. This is attested in Cavineña (Tacanan), one of the languages within the sample of the present study, in the form of the clitic particle =dya. According to Guillaume (2008: 665), =dya is comparable to the stress focus of English. The examples in (3.9) illustrate how =dya marks focus on a verbal predicate, an argument, and a so- called da-adjective used adverbially (see Guillaume 2008: 357).

(3.9) Cavineña (Tacanan) (Guillaume 2008: 665–666)⁴

1. 
   Juye_O
   

ox
nitya-nuka-wa.
stand-reit-pfv
Neti-chine=dya
stand-recpst=foc
juye_S
ox

‘I stopped (lit. stood) the oxen once again. (This time) they stopped
(while earlier they wouldn’t).’

2. 
   [Jee=ke
   

here=lig
ebakwapiji=ra=dya]_A
small.child=erg=foc=1du
=yatse_O
take-recpst
duju-chine

‘This child (in the picture) took us (to the other side of the river in his canoe, which is quite an achievement because he is very young).’

3. 
   Weni-da=dya=ekwana
   

vigorous-adj=foc=1pl
kwa-chine.
go-recpst

‘We went fast (lit. vigorous).’

Also in the case of (3.9c), where wenida ‘vigorous, fast’ is focused by the use of =dya, it seems that the modifier is semantically predicate-like.

Focus is sometimes tested by constructing the supposed focused content as an it-cleft. As illustrated by Lambrecht (1994: 70), in an English it -cleft such as It is my keys that I lost, “the proposition expressed in the relative clause must be pragmatically presupposed,
i.e. assumed by the speaker to be known to the addressee”. In this case, it is assumed that the addressee knows that the speaker lost something. The it -cleft highlights the focus of the utterance, namely my keys. Applied to example (3.7), we get the it -cleft in (3.10).
(3.10) It is loudly that Mary sings.

Here, the addressee is expected to know that Mary sings. Although this example does not come across as very natural out of context, it is clearly acceptable in a context where it must be clarified in which way Mary sings (e.g. – Mary sings quietly, – No, it is loudly that Mary sings, but Sara sings quietly ).⁵

In the English, Hungarian, and Cavineña examples above, the adverbial modifiers are focused. However, averbials often occur in other positions, and in Hungarian, Adverbs denoting manner are in fact more naturally placed after the Verb, but may also occur in pre-focus position (Valéria Molnár, p.c.).

⁴ In examples (3.9a-b), ‘A’ and ‘O’ in subscript indicate transitive subject and object, respectively.

⁵ Note that this does not work with well. When turning Mary sings well into an it -cleft, the adjective good must be used: It is good that Mary sings, implying that the fact that Mary sings is good, either in general, or for Mary in particular (Andrew Cooper, p.c.).

(3.11) Hungarian (Uralic) (Valéria Molnár, p.c.)

1. 
   Mari
   

Mari
tegnap
yesterday
vasalta
ironed
ki
out
az
the
inget
shirt.acc
szépen.

beautifully

‘It was yesterday that Mari ironed the shirt beautifully.’

2. 
   Mari
   

Mari
szépen

beautifully

tegnap
yesterday
vasalta
ironed
ki
out
az
the
inget.
shirt.acc

‘It was yesterday that Mari ironed the shirt beautifully.’
In (3.12a), an example from Cavineña is taken where a non-focused da-Adjective is used adverbially.
(3.12) Cavineña (Tacanan) (Guillaume 2008: 361)

[Misi-da

thick-aDj

tawi-tsu]=yatse
sleep-ss=1du
tawi
dream
ju-ya.
be-ipfv

‘When we sleep deeply (lit. when we sleep thick) we dream.’
In English, examples with a different accent such as Mary sings well (implying that there is something else she does not do well) illustrate a non-focused Adverb.
The effect of focus which makes modifiers appear predicate-like semantically does not only happen to modifiers within predicating expressions. It seems that modifiers within referring expressions can be affected in the same way, in examples like the Swedish one below.
(3.13) Swedish (Indo-European) (constructed ex.)

Jag
I
såg
see.pst
det
art
röd-a
red-def
hus-et.
house-def.

‘I saw the red house.’
In example (3.13), the modifer röda ‘red’ is focused by being emphatically stressed. The modifier appears to take on a reference-like usage here, since the addressee is expected to know that the speaker saw a house, and it is primarily röda ‘red’ that refers to the house in question. While this is highly context-specific and not unexpected, it does not pose a problem for treating the Swedish Adjective röda ‘red’ as a modifier. Nor should it be problematic that modifiers within predicating expressions may sometimes take on semantically predicate-like uses, without therefore becoming predicates as such. Rather, although the semantic and perhaps also the discourse component are weakened in these examples, the syntactic component remains.

2.