This paper addresses two proposed properties of the kind of linguistic focus connected to alternatives in discourse: contrast and exhaustiveness. Using data occurring in spontaneous spoken English, it argues that neither contrast nor exhaustiveness is inherent to a particular category of focus. These characteristics can be derived from the contexts in which focus occurs, and thus do not need to be considered an inherent part of the meaning of focus. Contrast and exhaustiveness thus result from pragmatic aspects rather than from linguistic features of focus. They can be understood to arise from the interaction of the meaning of focus with the pragmatics of the context in which it occurs.
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