Focus in Natural Language: Syntax, Semantics, and Typology

June 1-2, 2026

David Müller, University of Geneva

(with the support of Prof. Isabelle Charnavel, University of Geneva)

Prof. Malte Zimmermann, Universität Potsdam

Prof. Michael Erlewine, National University of Singapore & University of Helsinki

Although the sentence pairs in (1) and (2) contain the same words, we understand that the speakers intend to convey different meanings, due to the emphasis indicated by the capitalization.

(1) English

a. John called MARY.

b. John CALLED Mary.

(2) French

a. Jean a appelé MARIE.

b. Jean a APPELÉ Marie.

This phenomenon, known as 'focus', can be realized in various ways. In many languages, such as English and French, focus is often expressed through prosodic means (i.e., intonation). In other languages, like Akan (a language spoken in West Africa), focus is not realized through intonation. Instead, one finds morphosyntactic markers attached to the focused element-such as the word na in example (3b):

(3) Akan

a. Kofi ba-a ha.
Kofi come-PAST here
'Kofi came here.'

b. Kofi na o-ba-a ha.
Kofi FOC 3SG-come-PAST here
'It was Kofi who came.'

Focus also plays a central role in interpretation, particularly in combination with elements like only or never. Interpretations can vary significantly depending on which element is in focus:

(4)

a. I never said she stole your MONEY.
≈ She stole something else.

b. I never said she stole YOUR money.
≈ It was someone else's money.

c. I never said she STOLE your money.
≈ She borrowed it.

d. I never said SHE stole your money.
≈ Someone else did.

e. I never SAID she stole your money.
≈ I wrote it.

This topic is relevant to anyone interested in the workings of natural language at the interface of syntax, prosody, semantics, and pragmatics.

The aim of this workshop is to bring together researchers and doctoral students working in all areas of linguistics. Some of the central questions include:

• What is the semantic contribution of focus?
• How does focus interact with other grammatical components (e.g., syntax)?
• How is focus used?
• What is its pragmatic effect in discourse (e.g., in argumentation)?
• How does focus vary typologically across the world's languages?

Over the course of this two-day workshop, we aim to explore these questions in depth.

Université de Genève

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