Spotlight / Focus
Focus
Emphasis
Cleft
Contrastive focus
What is the most important new information?
booster
intermediate
Information structure
معنا
The part of the message that carries the main emphasis, contrast, correction, or answer to the current question.
چطور آن را تشخیص دهید
Ask which part would be stressed or corrected in context.
نمونهها
واژهها
only|even|it was|not X but Y
عبارتها
it was Anna who|ANNA did it|only Peter
جمله
Anna bought the book, not Peter.
Visual guide
Basic shape
Message = background + focus Who bought the book? background: bought the book FOCUS: Anna Anna bought the book. = Anna, not Peter
Compare shape
Same focus, many shapes Stress: ANNA did it Cleft: it was Anna who... Particle: only Peter Contrast: not X but Y Word order/focus slot may mark it Task: find the spotlight
نمای زبان
در زبان شما
Persian (Farsi, standard Iranian)
میزان حضور
strong
اهمیت
Focus can be shown through stress, fronting, particles such as فقط, or context.
من این کتاب را خریدم.
I this book RA bought.
در زبان در حال یادگیری
Bengali (standard)
میزان حضور
strong
دشواری
Focus can be shown by stress, word order and particles such as -ই.
আমি-ই কাজটা করেছি।
I myself did the work.
چالش رایج زبانآموزان
Learners may miss the strong exclusive/corrective force of -ই.
Same block, different coding
Both languages use this block strongly, but they signal it differently. Focus on form changes, not only meaning.