Sense and Sensitivity advances a novel research proposal inthe nascent field of formal pragmatics, exploring in detail thesemantics and pragmatics of focus in natural language discourse. The authors develop a new account of focus sensitivity, and showthat what has hitherto been regarded as a uniform phenomenon infact results from three different mechanisms. The book
* Makes a major contribution to ongoing research in the area offocus sensitivity - a field exploring interactions betweensound and meaning, specifically the dependency some words have onthe effects of focus, such as „she only LIKES me“ (i. e. nothingdeeper) compared to „she only likes ME“ (i. e. nobody else)
* Discusses the features of the QFC theory (Quasi association, Free association, and Conventional association), a new account offocus implying a tripartite typology of focus-sensitiveexpressions
* Presents novel cross-linguistic data on focus and focussensitivity that will be relevant across a range of linguisticsub-fields: semantics and pragmatics, syntax, and intonationalphonology
* Concludes with a case study of exclusives (like„only“), arguing that the entire existing literaturehas missed crucial generalizations, and for the first timeexplaining the focus sensitivity of these expressions in terms oftheir meaning and discourse function
* Makes a major contribution to ongoing research in the area offocus sensitivity - a field exploring interactions betweensound and meaning, specifically the dependency some words have onthe effects of focus, such as „she only LIKES me“ (i. e. nothingdeeper) compared to „she only likes ME“ (i. e. nobody else)
* Discusses the features of the QFC theory (Quasi association, Free association, and Conventional association), a new account offocus implying a tripartite typology of focus-sensitiveexpressions
* Presents novel cross-linguistic data on focus and focussensitivity that will be relevant across a range of linguisticsub-fields: semantics and pragmatics, syntax, and intonationalphonology
* Concludes with a case study of exclusives (like„only“), arguing that the entire existing literaturehas missed crucial generalizations, and for the first timeexplaining the focus sensitivity of these expressions in terms oftheir meaning and discourse function
