Focus as perspectivation.

This paper aims at focus/background structures (FBSs) from a production point of view. Based on an analysis of retellings, we demonstrate that syntax-oriented conceptions of focus are applicable to these spoken data, resulting in minimal or maximal foci (Uhmann 1991). These foci do not always come up to the predictions of the textlinguistic quaestio model (Stutterheim 1997) with respect to focus realization. According to the quaestio model we would expect that the linguistic units referring to the respective events are focused. The minimal and maximal foci have different pragmatic functions that will be characterized as perspectivation process (cf. Glatz and Stutterheim, this issue) during conceptualization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]