Speaker: Victor Bogren Svensson (SOL) Title: Voice, Adverbial Verbs and Information Structure in Takituduh Bunun

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Abstract

This presentation reports preliminary findings on information structure in Takituduh Bunun (Austronesian: Taiwan), based on original fieldwork. It examines the functions and grammatical structure of topic and focus markers in the left periphery of the clause, the influence of information packaging on voice selection, and the impact the realization of quantifiers and focus particles as adverbial verbs has on their semantic interpretation. Preliminary findings indicate that topic and focus markers in Takituduh Bunun are used to encode a wide range of information structure functions, and that the choice of voice form is highly sensitive to information structure constraints, constituting another layer of complexity impacting voice selection, beyond grammatical and transitivity constraints. Finally, the realization of quantifiers and focus particles as adverbial verbs appears to render them highly sensitive to voice selection and head movement, offering new insights into the mechanisms underlying quantifier and focus licensing.