A Comparative Study of ‘dake-da’ in Japanese and ‘thâonán’ in Thai at Sentence-final Positions Single Element Focus and Interpretation

Abstract

While focus operations and their interpretation vary cross-linguistically, similarities and differences in focus mechanisms and interpretable reading of ‘dake-da’ in Japanese and ‘thâonán’ in Thai remain an area of inquiry. This research comparatively analyzes the focus and interpretation of a single element of ‘dake-da’ and ‘thâonán’ when appearing sentence-finally. Criteria for data analysis are the (un)grammaticality; the (un)clarity of the focus; and interpretative (non-)ambiguity of ‘dake-da’ and ‘thâonán’. Results are that the ‘dake-da’ in-situ focus construction using phonological prominence exhibits no shortest movement rule, adjacency condition, or negative island constraints (NICs). Its focus on a single element (except the subject) is self-evident without supplementary comparative focus. The focus phrase (FocP) structural unambiguity relative to the negative phrase (NegP) yields a sole reading : only > neg (for example, ‘The only thing Somkid didn't wash was the glasses’). By contrast, ‘thâonán’ construction, an ex-situ focus construction using syntactic movement, follows the shortest movement rule and thereby produces the adjacency condition with NICs from the lower NegP, but not from the higher NegPs. Focus on an adjacent element (unlike a non-adjacent one) is self-evident without requiring supplementary comparative focus. Structural ambiguity of the FocP relative to the NegP also leads to an ambiguous interpretation between only > neg (‘The only thing Somkid didn't wash was the glasses’) or neg > only (‘Somkid didn't only wash the glasses’). In conclusion, ‘dake-da’ in Japanese and ‘thâonán’ in Thai use different focus mechanisms. Most focused elements, relying on linguistic prominence or movement, are self-evident, not requiring supplementary comparative focus. Additionally, structural (non-)ambiguity of the FocP leads to different possible interpretations in negative sentences.