ISBN : 9782296113152
FOCUSING ON THE FOCUS IN HUNGARIAN (PROSODY OR SYNTAX ?)
Tamás GecsŐ Université Loránd Eötvös de B
Introduction
In linguistics, the focus determines which part of the sentence contributes
the most important information1. (As to the etymology of focus : its original
meaning is ’hearth, fireplace’; a hearth is the floor of a fireplace, especially one that
extends outwards into the room. The metaphorical meanings ’home’, later : ’a point
upon which attention, activity, etc. is concentrated’ can be derived from the former –
original – meaning).
The focus may be expressed either prosodically or syntactically or both,
depending on the language.
Focus, due to its often uncertain and broadly applied definition, has been
analysed in a variety of ways