Katharina Hartmann – författare

Over the last two decades, focus has become a prominent topic in major fields in linguistic research (syntax, semantics, phonology). Focus Strategies in African Languages contributes to the ongoing discussion of focus by investigating focus-related phenomena in a range of African languages, most of which have been under-represented in the theoretical literature on focus.The articles in the volume look at focus strategies in Niger-Congo and Afro-Asiatic languages from several theoretical and methodological perspectives, ranging from detailed generative analysis to careful typological generalization across languages. Their common aim is to deepen our understanding of whether and how the information-structural category of focus is represented and marked in natural language. Topics investigated are, among others, the relation of focus and prosody, the effects of information structure on word order, ex situ versus in situ strategies of focus marking, the inventory of focus marking devices, focus and related constructions, focus-sensitive particles. The present inquiry into the focus systems of African languages has repercussions on existing theories of focus. It reveals new focus strategies as well as fine-tuned focus distinctions that are not discussed in the theoretical literature, which is almost exclusively based on well-documented intonation languages.

Over the last two decades, focus has become a prominent topic in major fields in linguistic research (syntax, semantics, phonology). Focus Strategies in African Languages contributes to the ongoing discussion of focus by investigating focus-related phenomena in a range of African languages, most of which have been under-represented in the theoretical literature on focus.

The articles in the volume look at focus strategies in Niger-Congo and Afro-Asiatic languages from several theoretical and methodological perspectives, ranging from detailed generative analysis to careful typological generalization across languages. Their common aim is to deepen our understanding of whether and how the information-structural category of focus is represented and marked in natural language. Topics investigated are, among others, the relation of focus and prosody, the effects of information structure on word order, ex situ versus in situ strategies of focus marking, the inventory of focus marking devices, focus and related constructions, focus-sensitive particles.

The present inquiry into the focus systems of African languages has repercussions on existing theories of focus. It reveals new focus strategies as well as fine-tuned focus distinctions that are not discussed in the theoretical literature, which is almost exclusively based on well-documented intonation languages.

This handbook provides an empirically well-founded, strongly comparative overview and reference source for selected broad topics in Germanic syntax, adopting a comparative perspective that systematically combines detailed empirical investigation with theoretical synthesis across the Germanic languages. The volume brings together 26 chapters by leading international scholars and addresses six central domains of Germanic syntax: the nominal domain, the prepositional domain, anaphoric elements and binding, scrambling and object shift, verb second, and syntactic peripheries. Within each domain, comprehensive empirical surveys of individual Germanic languages are complemented by overarching comparative chapters that synthesize the empirical findings and situate them within current theoretical research.The handbook is designed both as a reference work and as a resource for future research. Its distinctive structure enables readers to access up-to-date descriptions of key syntactic phenomena while also engaging with broader comparative and theoretical questions. By combining extensive empirical coverage, comparative analysis, and theoretical reflection, this volume offers a unique contribution to the field and an indispensable resource for scholars and students of Germanic linguistics, syntax, and comparative language research.

Negation ist eine universelle Eigenschaft der menschlichen Sprache. Als primäre Disziplin der Logik tritt Negation in typologisch unterschiedlichsten Erscheinungsformen auf und spielt eine große Rolle für die Syntax-Semantik-Schnittstelle. Mit diesem Band soll die umfassende Forschungsliteratur zur Negation durch eine Reihe von aktuellen Studien ergänzt werden. Alle Beiträge beziehen sich auf Fragen oder Kontroversen, die sich mit der Syntax, Semantik und Variation negativer Elemente befassen, und gehen von der Annahme aus, dass ein grundlegendes Verständnis der verschiedenen Realisierungen der Negation zentral für unser Grammatikverständnis ist. Die hier veröffentlichten Beiträge berücksichtigen verschiedene Herangehensweisen und eine Vielfalt empirischer und analytischer Details.Negation is a universal feature of human language that is inherently logical in nature, presents typologically diverse manifestations, and plays a fundamental role in the mapping between syntactic structure and semantic interpretation. The aim of this volume is to complement the vast body of research literature by offering a set of cutting-edge studies on negation. All the contributions are related to recent questions bearing on the syntax and semantics of negative elements and the variation in their form, and follow the central assumption that a proper understanding of the multifaceted expression of negation is central to our understanding of the grammar as a whole. With this in mind, different approaches and a variety of empirical and analytic details have been included in this volume.

In the sixteenth-century Cantici di Fidenzio, unhappy teacher Fidenzio sings of his disastrous love for one of his students. As may be expected of a Renaissance teacher of Latin, he drew on both ancient and contemporary literary models, from Virgil over Petrarch to Berni, in order to enhance his homosexual desire and his poems with appropriate auctoritas.Fidenzio''s language (a morpho-syntactical mix of Latin and Italian), the exaggerated expectations, and the implied consequences cannot easily be understood from the perspective of today''s readers: for the contemporary audience the Cantici, teeming with citations and allusions, certainly were a hilarious read, we today need further explanations in order to fully grasp the meaning of Fidenzio''s verses. For the first time, this study offers a bridge into the Cantici''s world and allows a more wholesome understanding of this great work of the Italian Renaissance.