currently, there are two central themes in research on focus in generative linguistics. first, given what words or expressions are prominent, what is the meaning of some sentence? rooth, jacobs, krifka, and von stechow claim that there are lexical items and construction specific-rules that refer directly to the notion of focus. dryer, kadmon, marti, roberts, schwarzschild, vallduvi, and williams argue for accounts in which general principles of discourse explain focus sensitivity. second, given the meaning and syntax of some sentence, what words or expressions are prominent?