Abstract
This chapter presents an overview of the formal and functional aspects of Focus Fronting (FF), namely, the marked constituent order characterized by a clauseinitial focused element. The major syntactic properties of this construction will be initially described with reference to the seminal work by Rizzi (1997). More data from the different patterns found in Romance will then be discussed in detail and in a comparative perspective, paying particular attention to the range of constituents that are amenable to undergo FF and to the distributional restrictions imposed by semantics and discourse. The necessity of distinguishing between different types of focus pointed out in recent proposals will then be assessed: information focus, contrastive (or corrective) focus, and mirative focus are distinct focus types, whose properties and characteristics are essential to understand not only the multifaceted interpretations and functions of FF, but also the significant similarities and differences encountered in different varieties of Romance. Some observations on the syntax and semantics of FF in interrogative and in exclamative clauses will conclude the chapter.
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