Representing and accessing focussed referents

Abstract This paper considers linguistic evidence concerning the form of focussed representations of discourse referents and the linguistic means used to access such representations. It is argued that two forms of representation can be distinguished, one of which, explicit focus, is accessed via linguistic representations of discourse referents, whereas the other, implicit focus, cannot be accessed via linguistic properties but only via object properties of the discourse referents themselves. Explicit focus is typically, though not exclusively, accessed by means of unmarked referential expressions (typically de-accented anaphoric pronouns), while implicit focus is accessed only by marked devices, including accented pronouns.