Markedness as figure-ground manipulation: a hypothesis

Abstract Markedness in language has been a perpetual fascination for linguists of all persuasions, but a unified account of it has proven elusive. In this paper, I propose a figure-ground gestalt (FGG) hypothesis, arguing that markedness is a mechanism for speakers to manipulate figure-ground arrangement in cases where the unmarked figure-ground organization is found wanting. There are three parts to this hypothesis. The first is the physio-anatomical basis of FGG, i.e., FGG is a biological reality rooted in the anatomy of the human eye and the neurology of attentional limitation. The second part of the hypothesis is the assumption that FGG has a heavy and prevalent bearing on the major architecture of language (the “unmarked” version of language). Thirdly – which is the essence of the hypothesis – when the default FGG organization in language cannot fulfill specific needs arising from context, the speaker rearranges FGG presentation. The result of this FGG manipulation is linguistic markedness. Four key marked constructions – subject auxiliary inversion, passive voice, it -cleft, and anticipatory it – are analyzed to support the proposed hypothesis.