Focus semantics, DGfS 2026

DGfS Summer School, Bielefeld, August 2026

Michael Yoshitaka ERLEWINE (mitcho)

This class introduces the theory and application of Rooth’s Alternative Semantics, a widely adopted approach to the semantics of focus phenomenon. Empirically, we will concentrate first on the analysis of focus particles (e.g. “only,” “even,” “also”), also addressing relevant issues regarding the prosody of focus, its relationship to discourse, and the morphosyntax of focus particles. Later, we will also discuss the use of Alternative Semantics for the analysis of questions, disjunctions, and indefinites. Familiarity with intro-level concepts in syntax and semantics will be assumed.

  1. Introduction, Alternative Semantics
  2. More on only, even, and also
  3. The nature of alternatives
  4. The syntax/semantics of focus particles
  5. Focus and wh alternatives