FOCUS AND ITS PROSODIC MARKING IN UPPER LOZVA MANSI

This paper considers the information structure in the Upper Lozva dialect of the Mansi language in correspondence to the concept of focus. After a brief presentation of the ULM and its prosody intonational patterns are described within a syllable, words of different syllable structure, on the material of isolated sentences and sentences in discourse. Audio material recorded by the author were analyzed in PRAAT. F0 movement was selected as an acoustic feature of prosodic marking of the informational structure. A comparison is made between neutral and logically stressed sentences. Neutral intonation is characterized by a gradual increase of pitch to the predicative core followed by decline of pitch. Topic is marked by an even tone on the stressed syllable. Rhema is marked by a significant increase of pitch within a stressed syllable. The concept of “focus” is substantiated on the basis of its description in the literature on the topic. Next, the analysis of the marked chunks is performed. The intonational marking of a wide and narrow focus is investigated. Argumental and predicate foci are distinguished; a hypothesis is proposed about the absence of prosodic marking of sentential focus. The description of focus structures with additive particles and under negation is provided.

information structure, pragmatics, focus, discourse, prosody, intonation, minority languages, uralic languages, mansi