Focus dependency as structure sharing

Abstract

Focus dependency is an important phenomenon at the syntax-semantics interface: Elided material can exhibit bound-variable-like behavior when its antecedent is a focussed phrase in the same sentence. In the past, focus dependency has been analyzed as actual binding or by means of copying. This paper presents a new account of focus dependency that relies on structure-sharing. Structure-sharing allows subphrases to be syntactically linked to more than one position of a phrase marker. The proposal better explains focus dependency than existing accounts especially when we consider novel data from the interaction of focus-dependency and MaxElide.