Contrastive Focus in Yucatecan Spanish

Abstract

This chapter provides a description and analysis of contrastive focus constructions in Yucatecan Spanish, the dialect of Spanish spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. In this variety of Spanish fronted focus constructions are notoriously common. Closer inspection, however, shows that fronted foci in Yucatecan Spanish behave in a way that is markedly different from that of any other variety of Spanish that we are aware of. We provide evidence in favor of the hypothesis that the particular Yucatecan Spanish focus fronting constructions observed in Yucatecan Spanish originate from language contact between Yucatecan Spanish and Yucatec Maya (the Mayan language spoken in Yucatán; ISO code: yua). The main reason is that the syntax of the Yucatecan Spanish focus constructions is strikingly similar to that of comparable constructions in Yucatec Maya.