Focus and Change in Polynesian Languages

Abstract

This paper investigates an information structure category (focus) in the Polynesian languages, as it relates to language stability on the one hand and language change on the other. The study concentrates on *ko structures, which are striking because, in VSO languages, they allow a *ko-marked nominal to precede the verb under certain pragmatic conditions. We propose that *ko-marked nominals are focused, according to a precise semantic definition of focus as a syntactic feature that triggers a semantic object (discourse alternatives). First, we show that this semantic account of focus predicts a range of *ko structures found in verb-initial Polynesian systems, including clefts, equatives, topics, wh-questions and forms with focus-sensitive expressions like ‘only'. We propose that *ko structures allow nominals to surface in the initial focus position in the VSO Polynesian languages: in other words, the initial position is both a strict predicate position as well as a focus position, and the maintenance of this information structure–syntax link is remarkably consistent across space and time; in addition, *ko-marked topics precede predicates, but also contain a focus marking. The rest of the paper turns to Polynesian languages that have shifted to SVO word order. We show that once the link between initial position and predicate/focus is lost, *ko structures are eroded or lost. *ko structures are thus a diagnostic for information structure-related language stability or change, as it is correlated with VSO or SVO word order.