Abstract
Abstract This paper tackles issues that involve distinguishing clefts from other monoclausal focus constructions when describing the syntax of lesser-known languages. I concentrate on Tilapa Otomi, which is, morphologically speaking, the most conservative language of the Otomi family from Mexico (Oto-Pamean; Oto-Manguean). I propose that Tilapa Otomi has (at least) two specialized focus constructions: one that is a biclausal, and which I analyze as a cleft construction, and another that is monoclausal, and it is thus not a cleft but which could be superficially mistaken to be a cleft with a zero copula. I use various syntactic tests to distinguish both constructions, which mainly involve word order and negation.
Highlights
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I have proposed that Tilapa Otomi has two specialized focus constructions
One is a cleft construction, which is by definition biclausal
Summary
Following Drubig and Schaffar (2001: 1079), I take a focus construction to be a construction that “(...) denotes a type of sentence that serves to promote a specified constituent, its focus, to a position of particular prominence by setting it off from the rest of the sentence in one way or another.ˮ Focus constructions come in a variety of ways, but one fundamental dimension to typologize them is whether they represent biclausal or monoclausal structures. I argue that the construction in (4) is a monoclausal construction against the analysis in Palancar (2018a), who proposes that it could be treated as a cleft with a zero copula Such monoclausal construction is used as the default encoding when a human being, encoded by a pronominal (i.e., an established discourse topic), is placed in focus, just like in (4). The element ko in the monoclausal construction in (4), which could look like a relative pronoun introducing a CC is neither a relative pronoun nor does it occur in the typical high syntactic position of relative pronouns.
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