A Grammar of Italian Sign Language (LIS)

Contrastive focus conveys a new piece of information that contrasts with a previously mentioned item. Contrast is a broad notion that can also appear out of the blue, referring to a larger part of the sentence. However, contrastive focus are pieces of information which deny or correct previous statements. In the example below, sushi represents the contrastive focus and appears before the personal pronoun (ix₁)and the verb (adore), which convey background information.

                                                 

 

 

         Context: Someone says that the signer likes pizza.

                                                                                        foc

         not. ix₁ pizza_a ix_a ix₁ impossible_no_way_a. ix_b sushi_b ix₁ adore_b

         ‘No! I hate pizza, I love sushi!’

 

Contrastive focus in LIS may also be in sentence-initial position, as shown in the example below.

 

 

 

                                         y/n

         A:           pizza like ix₂      

                                                                  foc           

         B:           ix₁ impossible_no_way. sushi prefer

         ‘You do like pizza.’ ‘No! I prefer pizza!’

 

Differently from new information focus, which is not frequently accompanied by non-manual markers, corrective focus may be marked by non-manual and manual markers (PRAGMATICS 4.3.1).

         It is important to note that corrective focus also allows ellipsis of the background information containing the wrong item. In fact, this is considered a redundant repetition of the previous question or statement and it can be avoided, as in the example below.

 

 

 

         A:           cake like ix₂

                                               foc

         B:          ix₁ not chestnut prefer

         ‘You do like cakes.’ ‘No! I prefer chestnuts.’