Accentuation and Interpretation [Hardcover]

Develops a highly original theory of accentuation in which accentuation serves the mere pragmatic function of making utterances well comprehensible. Semantic effects of accentuation are explained as epiphenomena of pragmatic accentuation. The theory is formally elaborated in a model-theoretic framework and experimentally justified.Acknowledgements Introduction: Pragmatic and Semantic Effects of Accentuation Optimal Accentuation Cooperative Information Exchange Reconstruction of Messages Optimal Accentuation vs. Focus Accentuation Summary References IndexHANS-CHRISTIAN SCHMITZ is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. His research focuses on formal semantics and the pragmatics of natural language.