Abstract

This article critically evaluates the notion of contrast and discusses the role that contrast has been claimed to have in grammar. It argues that a precise understanding of grammatical effects of contrast can only be gained if both the contrastive constituents with the kind of alternative set they evoke as well as the discourse relations that connect the discourse segments containing the contrastive constituents are subjected to detailed analysis for their effects on grammar. It presents three hypotheses specifying the details for the identification of contrast-related alternative formation, contrastive discourse relations, and grammatical manifestations of contrast. It reviews previous research on contrast in relation to these hypotheses, examining the linguistic materials that have been used to elicit grammatical manifestations of contrast, and discussing specific findings for particular languages from the prosodic and the morphosyntactic literature on contrast.