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Contrast, Verum Focus and Anaphora: The Case of et pourtant si/non in French

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2020

JOAN BUSQUETS
JOAN BUSQUETS*
Affiliation:
Université Bordeaux-Montaigne, CLLE, UMR 5263
*
Author’s address: Université Bordeaux-Montaigne, CLLE, UMR 5263, Domaine Universitaire, 19 esplanade des Antilles, France[email protected]
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Abstract

This study examines the anaphoric status of the sequence et pourtant si/non in French. This sequence displays some properties not only of TP-Ellipsis but also of propositional anaphora. Consequently, the antecedent of this sequence can be recovered by means of either type of anaphoric process. I argue that the salient and relevant antecedent is constrained by the presence of a modalized environment. I claim that the discursive marker pourtant is assimilated to a modal operator (Jayez 1988, Martin 1987) expressing discourse contrast between two propositions anchored in two possible worlds that are not contradictory. Polarity Particles (POLPARTS) involved in this sequence are analyzed as emphasizing the truth of a proposition. As such, they are conveying semantic contrast between two polarities, that of a salient and accessible discourse antecedent and that of the missing part after et pourtant si/non. This is how POLPARTS upgrade the Common Ground. I develop a focus-based account for Verum Focus, building on alternatives along the lines of Hardt & Romero (2004). I suggest that the scope of an epistemic operator (Romero & Han 2004) and the conditions of use are relevant in order to reconstruct the adequate antecedent, which is not possible in an analysis based solely on lexical insertion and upgrading the Question Under Discussion (qud) by conditions governing the felicitous use of et pourtant si/non.

Keywords

alternative semanticsanaphoraCommon Grounddiscourse contrastFrenchPolPartssemantic contrastverum focusVP-Ellipsis
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Linguistics , Volume 57 , Issue 2 , April 2021 , pp. 279 - 319
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Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

This paper has benefited from the comments of a number of people. In particular, it owes much to Christian Bassac for his key input, for his criticism, comments, suggestions and advice, which have all been essential throughout the paper. Parts of this paper were presented at several seminars in Paris, Toulouse and Bordeaux. I would like to thank the participants of those meetings, and especially Pascal Amsili, Anne Abeillé and Anne Dagnac. I would like to thank too Nicolas Guilliot and Daniel Hardt for their constructive criticism on an earlier draft of the paper. Finally, I am grateful to the three reviewers of JoL for their insightful comments and suggestions, which have all been taken into account and have improved the final version of this paper. None of these people are responsible for the use I have made of their remarks, and I remain responsible for any error or unclarity the paper contains.

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