Operators in focus

The case of stressed and unstressed 'again':

 

Hans Kamp, IMS, University of Stuttgart

(Based on joint work with Manfred Bierwisch)

 

Abstract.  

The word 'again' has two possible interpretations, its repetitive and its restitutive reading. 

  The restitutive interpretation is restricted in two ways: (i) it is possible only when 'again' occupies 

certain positions (roughly speaking, it must be close to the verb), and (ii) focal stress seems to prevent 

a restitutive interpretation even when it occurs in a position where it could get such an interpretation 

when unstressed.  The present paper is devoted only to this last, stress-related aspect.  It will be argued 

that focal stress on again imposes an additional constraint on interpretation which always has the effect 

of a repetitive interpretation.  This contribution ‘swamps’ the (truth-conditionally weaker) restitutive 

interpretation,if that interpretation is chosen.  In such cases the over-all effect will thus be the same 

whether the lexical contribution of again is repetitive or restitutive, and the restitutive interpretation

 is no longer visible as a distinct reading.