In LSC, focused elements can appear in different positions in the sentence. Generally, the type of focus [PRAGMATICS 4.1] determines the position of the focused item. In narrow new information focus we can find instances of focus placed at the end of the sentence, where the pitch accent is more prominent, as shown in examples (a) and (b) below. In these examples, the basic word order SOV [SYNTAX 2.3.1] changes to OVS in (a) and (S)VO in (b).
a) clothes t-shirt 3give1 [father]F.
‘FATHER gave me the shirt.’
b) eat [bread]F.
‘(I) eat BREAD.’
(© Alexandra Navarrete-González 2016. Reprinted with permission from Navarrete-González, 2016: 25)
With contrastive focus, the focused element can also be placed at the end of the sentence, as in the example below, where the word order is (S)VO.
Context: What do you like more, skiing or snowboarding?
le
like more [ski]F.
‘I like more SKIING.’
However, fronting of the focused item is possible too. In the example below, the verb ski is placed at the beginning of the sentence. In this case, the basic word order becomes O(S)V.
Context: What do you like more, skiing or snowboarding?
re
[ski]F like more.
‘SKIING I like more.’
When the contrastive focus is placed at the beginning of the sentence, it is accompanied by raised eyebrows, as shown in SYNTAX 2.3.3.2.