6.1. Expressions with the function of a rhematizer

6.1. Expressions with the function of a rhematizer
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The function of rhematizers is performed mostly by particles and certain adverbs. Most expresstions that fulfill the function of a rhematizer are functionally homonymous (they fulfill also other functions). The function of a rhematizer is often fulfilled by particles and adverbs that primarily express adverbial modifications (see Section 6.1.1, "Homonymy: rhematizer - adverbial modifications" and Section 6.1.2, "Homonymy: rhematizer - modal expressions (ATT and MOD)"). Rhematizers are also homonymous with some conjunction modifiers (see Section 6.1.3, "Homonymy: rhematizer - conjunction modifier").

Prototypical rhematizers. Prototypical rhematizers are expressions whose primary function is to be a rhematizer i.e. those expressions that most often fulfill the function of a rhematizer. Prototypical rhematizers can rhematize one or more parts of a sentence (constituents), i.e. have a narrower or wider scope. They can appear both in the focus (where they rhematize the whole focus) and in the topic (where they rhematize the contrastive topic). Their meaning usually encompasses emphasis or fronting. Other expressions with the function of a rhematizer can lack some of these features.

Prototypical rhematizers include: pouze (=only), jen (=only), jenom (=only), zejména (=in_particular), zvláště (=especially) , především (=primarily), obzvlášť (=especially), hlavně (=mainly), jedině (=only), například (=for example), toliko (=just), ne (=no), ano (=yes), výhradně (=exclusively), výlučně (=exclusively) etc.

Expressions for negation and affirmation. Also expressions for syntactic negation and affirmation usually fulfill the role of rhematizers (see Section 13, "Modality and negation"). They comprise two types of expressions:

negative and affirmative particles ano (=yes), ne (=no), nikoli/v (=nay) .
negative morpheme ne- at negative forms of verbs.

We interpret these expressions as rhematizers in two cases:

negative expressions negate the validity of the content of the whole utterance or one of its parts.

Examples:

Stalo se to ne mou vinou. (=lit. Happened _ it not through_my fault.)

Nestalo se to mou vinou. (=lit. Did_not_happen _ it through_my fault.)
negative or affirmative expressions (only the particles ne (=no), nikoli/v (=nay) or ano (=yes)) stand for a non-expressed verb and express its positive or negative meaning.

Examples:

My se máme dobře, ale vy ne. (=lit. We _ are well but you not.)

My se nemáme dobře, ale vy ano. (=lit. We _ are_not well but you yes.)

For guidelines for the annotation of such constructions see Section 13.1, "Negating and affirmative expressions as rhematizers".

6.1.1. Homonymy: rhematizer - adverbial modifications

The function of a rhematizer is often fulfilled by expressions with the primary function of an adverbial modification. It is crucial to distinguish the cases where an adverb or a particle has its original adverbial meaning from the cases where it has the function of a rhematizer. Table Table 10.3, "Functional homonymy: rhematizer - adverbial modification" presents the most common cases of the functional homonymy rhematizer - adverbial modification.

Table 10.3. Functional homonymy: rhematizer - adverbial modification

Expression	Example of the expression used as a rhematizer	Adverbial meanings of the expression (functors)	Example of the expression used as an adverbial modification
nejvýše (=at_most) nanejvýš (=at_most) nejméně (=at_least) minimálně (=at_least) maximálně (=at_most) aspoň (=at_least) alespoň (=at_least) akorát (=exactly)	Dal bych mu nejméně.`RHEM` domácí vězení. (=lit. (I) give would to_him at_least home imprisonment.) Nejméně.`RHEM` Jirka o tom věděl. (=lit. At_least. George about it knew.)	`EXT` - specification of a numeral	Stálo to nejméně.`EXT` sto korun. (=lit. Was_worth it hundred crowns.)
už (=already) již (=already)	Už.`RHEM` Komenský to hlásal. (=lit. Already Komenský it.ACC propagated.) Už.`RHEM` to(hle) Komenský hlásal. (=lit. Already this.ACC Komenský propagated.)	`TWHEN` - "nyní (=now)"	Nastává už.`TWHEN` doba, kdy… (=lit. Comes already (the) time when…) Jirka je už.`TWHEN` po večeři. (=lit. George is already after dinner.)
zrovna (=just) právě (=just) teprve (=only)	Právě.`RHEM` jemu jsem to řekl. (=lit. Just to_him (I) have it.Acc said.) Právě.`RHEM` tohle jsem mu řekl. (=lit. Just this.ACC (I) have to_him said.)	`TWHEN` - "nyní (=now)" `EXT` - "přesně (=exactly)"	Právě.`TWHEN` vystoupil z auta. (=lit. (He) right_now got_out of (the) car.) Právě.`TWHEN` se chystám ven. (=lit. (I) right_now _ am_going out.) Pozvěte právě.`EXT` sto lidí. (=lit. Invite just hundred persons.)
až (=almost, at_most)	Působilo to až.`RHEM` děsivě. (=lit. Looked it.NOM almost horribly.) Přijde až.`RHEM` zítra. (=lit. (He) will_come only tomorrow)	`EXT` - "nejvýše (=at_most)"	Protestovat přijde až.`EXT` dvacet tisíc lidí. (=lit. To_protest will_come at_most twenty thousand persons.)
zase (=on_the_other_hand, again)	Já to mám špatně a Jirka zase.`RHEM` dobře. (=lit. I it.ACC have wrong and George on_the_other_hand right.)	`TWHEN`	Přijdu zase.`TWHEN` (=lit. (I) will_come again.)
přímo (=just, directly)	Byl přímo.`RHEM` okouzlující. (=lit. (He) was just enchanting.) Přímo.`RHEM` Jirkovi jsem to říkal. (=lit. Just to_George (I) have it.Acc said.)	`DIR2` - "rovně (=straight)" `MANN`	Cesta vedla přímo.`DIR2` (=lit. (The) road led straight.) Řekni mi to přímo.`MANN` (=lit. Tell to_me it.Acc directly.)
zvlášť (=especially, separately)	Dejte si pozor zvlášť.`RHEM` na komplexní sloučeniny. (=lit. Pay _ attention especially to complex compounds.)	`MANN`	Zaplatíme zvlášť.`MANN` (=lit. (We) will_pay separately.)
hned (=right_away, immediately)	Vzal si hned.`RHEM` tři krajíce. (=lit. (He) took _ right_away three slices.)	`TWHEN`	Přijdu hned.`TWHEN` (=lit. (I) will_come immediately.) Udělej to hned.`TWHEN` (=lit. Do it immediately.)
naopak (=on_the_contrary, contrariwise)	Přišel naopak.`RHEM` Jirka. (=lit. Came on_the_contrary George.) Jirka naopak.`RHEM` vstal. (=lit. George on_the_contrary got_up.)	`MANN` - "obráceně (contrariwise)"	Všechno dělal naopak.`MANN`, než mu řekli. (=lit. Everything.ACC (he) did contrariwise than to_him (they) told.)
převážně (=mainly) většinou (=mostly) vesměs (=largely)	Převážně.`RHEM` hoši si na to stěžují. (=lit. Mainly boys _ about that complain.)	`THO` - "většinu času (=most_of_the_time)"	Převážně.`THO` jsme chodili běhat. (=lit. Most_of_the_time (we) were going running.)

6.1.2. Homonymy: rhematizer - modal expressions (`ATT` and `MOD`)

As rhematizers function also expressions that in addition to the their emphasizing function (i.e. rhematizer) can have a modal function, which we annotate as modifications with the functors ATT or MOD (see Section 7.3, "MOD" and Section 7.1, "ATT").

These homonymous expressions are analyzed as rhematizers in those cases where they have only the emphasizing function, the meaning of the sentence depends on their position, and they have scope only over a part of the sentence. These expressions are annotated as modifications with the functors ATT or MOD in they have a modal meaning, especially when they apply to the sentence as a whole and their position in the surface word order does not matter. Compare:

Třeba.ATT se tam budu nudit. (=lit. Maybe _ there (I) will be_bored.)

= Já se tam třeba budu nudit. (=lit. (I) _ there maybe will be_bored.) = Já se tam budu nudit, třeba. (=lit. (I) _ there will be_bored, maybe.)
Třeba.RHEM já se tam budu nudit. (=lit. For_instance I _ there will be_bored.)

≠ Já se tam třeba budu nudit. (=lit. (I) _ there maybe will be_bored.)

Homonymous expressions of this type include: to (=that), leda (=only), též (=also), rovněž (=also), take (=also), taktéž (=also), zároveň (=at_the_same_time), prakticky (=practically), spíše (=rather), třeba (=maybe) etc.

!!! Adjuncts with the functors MOD and ATT behave similarly to rhematizers. Their meaning of a degree of probability or an attitude affects a part of the statement, a subtree, or the whole statement. See Section 11.1.3, "The semantic scope of modifications with the functors MOD and ATT". In the future, nodes with the functors MOD and ATT should be annotated analogously to rhematizers.

6.1.3. Homonymy: rhematizer - conjunction modifier

Most expressions that can have the function of a rhematizer (including the prototypical ones) can also fulfill the function of an expression modifying a paratactic connective (i.e. conjunction modifier; see Section 16.1.2, "Conjunction modifiers").

These include: alespoň (=at_least), aspoň (=at_least), hlavně (=mainly), jen (=only), jenom (=only), jmenovitě (=namely), konkrétně (=concretely), maximálně (=at_most), například (=for_example), nejméně (=at_least), nejen (=not_only), nejenom (=not_only), pouze (=only), právě (=just), především (=primarily), převážně (=mainly), přímo (=just), přinejmenším (=at_least), spíše (=rather), takřka (=almost), třeba (=for_instance), třebas (=for_instance), většinou (=mostly), vlastně (=actually), vůbec (=at_all), výhradně (=exclusively), výlučně (=exclusively), vysloveně (=utterly), zejména (=in_particular), zvlášť (=especially), zvláště (=especially) etc.

Also expressions of negation can be part of complex paratactic connectives (i.e. they can be conjunction modifiers; see Section 13.3, "Negating expressions as conjunction modifiers").

A homonymous expression is analyzed as a conjunction modifier if it is placed between the individual members of a paratactic connection (parataxis of sentence parts) - such a paratactic structure constitutes a single unit in the topic-focus articulation of the sentence (see Section 4.3.2.1, "Topic-focus articulation of paratactically connected dependent modifications and clauses"), so there cannot be the borderline between the topic and focus inside it; therefore the expression in the middle of a paratactic connection does not signal the focus (it does note have a rhematizing function), it merely modifies the paratactic connection. Compare:

Kritika se vztahuje zejména.RHEM na Pavla. (=lit. (The) critique _ applies in_particular to Paul.)

The expression zejména (=in_particular) rhematizes the Patient na Pavla (=lit. to Paul) .
Kritika se vztahuje na Pavla a zejména.CM na Janu. (=lit. (The) critique _ applies to Paul and in_particular to Jane.)

The expression zejména (=in_particular) is a part of the complex paratactic connective a zejména (=and in_particular) .

In case of clausal parataxis, a homonymous expression can behave both as a rhematizer and as a conjunction modifier. We decide according to the presence of a scope of the expression over a part of one of the paratactically connected clauses. If there is scope, it is a rhematizer.

For more examples see Section 16.1.2, "Conjunction modifiers".

For guidelines for the annotation of paratactic structures with a rhematizer see Section 6.4.1, "Rhematizers in paratactic structures".