1. 1 OBJECTIVES The main objective of this joint work is to bring together some ideas that have played central roles in two disparate theoretical traditions in order to con- tribute to a better understanding of the relationship between focus and the syn- tactic and semantic structure of sentences. Within the Prague School tradition and the branch of its contemporary development represented by Hajicova and Sgall (HS in the sequel), topic-focus articulation has long been a central object of study, and it has long been a tenet of Prague school linguistics that topic-focus structure has...

This collection of papers stems originally from a conference on Property Theory, Type Theory and Semantics held in Amherst on March 13-16 1986. The conference brought together logicians, philosophers, com- puter scientists and linguists who had been working on these issues (of ten in isolation from one another). Our intent was to boost debate and exchange of ideas on these fundamental issues at a time of rapid change in semantics and cognitive science. The papers published in this work have evolved substantially since their original presentation at the conference. Given their scope, we...

ThiscollectionofpapersstemsoriginallyfromaconferenceonProperty Theory, TypeTheoryandSemanticsheldinAmherstonMarch13-16 1986.The conference brought together logicians, philosophers, com puter scientists and linguists who had been working on these issues (often in isolation from one another).Ourintent wastoboostdebate and exchange of ideas on these fundamental issuesat a time ofrapid changeinsemanticsandcognitivescience. The paperspublished in thiswork have evolved substantially since their original presentation at the conference. Given their scope, we thought it convenient to divide the work...