Focus Constructions in Ǹjò̩-kóo

Simeon Ọlaogun

doi:10.46545/aijelr.v2i1.65

Abstract

Focusing is a universal syntactic phenomenon. That is, there is no language in the world that does not have a means of placing prominence on constituents for focus purposes. However, the formal expression of focus differs from one language to another. Some languages express focus morphologically by using distinct morphemes or elements while others employ suprasegmentally means. The paper, therefore examines the focus strategies in Ǹjò̩-Kóo. It gives a detailed description of different constituents that may be focused in the language and the changes that are triggered in the clause as a result of the focusing. Adopting the Minimalist Program of Chomsky (1995) and Cartographic analysis of Rizzi (1997) Split-CP projections within the clausal left periphery, the study investigates how focus clauses are derived in the language and reveals that the syntax of focus in the language involves two probes: focus (foc) and emphasis (emph) each of which can provoke displacement operations. The paper employs information and clause structure evidence to motivate the constituents being focused. It is also observed among other things, that the constituents that could be focused in Ǹjò̩-kóo are subject DP, object DP or object DP of preposition, possessor DP and a whole sentence, and that the language does not distinguish between sentence and verbal focus hence the same strategy is employed for both focus types.

Highlights

Focusing is a universal phenomenon in that every language has a means of placing prominence on the constituent that is foregrounded
As far as I am aware, there is no known work that has employed information structure and clause structure to motivate the constituents being focused in a clause. This being the case, the present paper gives a detailed descriptive and theoretical description of different constituents that may be focused in the language, the changes that are observed in the clause as a result of the focusing, and employ information and clause structure evidence to motivate the constituent being focused in a clause at any given instance
4 The fact that nothing occupies the position from where the subject DP is moved appears to be a piece of cross-linguistic evidence which supports Awóbùlúyì’s claim that in SY when the subject is focused there is no resumptive pronoun at the extraction site contrary to some scholars that believe that the high tone syllable ‘Ó’ that normally surfaces in the focus construction such as Olú ni ói ti ra isu is a resumptive pronoun

Summary

Introduction

Focusing is a universal phenomenon in that every language has a means of placing prominence on the constituent that is foregrounded. When the subject DP is focused, it is fronted and marked with a focus marker úwòn and a clause final high tone morpheme. 4 The fact that nothing occupies the position from where the subject DP is moved appears to be a piece of cross-linguistic evidence which supports Awóbùlúyì’s claim that in SY when the subject is focused there is no resumptive pronoun at the extraction site contrary to some scholars that believe that the high tone syllable ‘Ó’ that normally surfaces in the focus construction such as Olú ni ói ti ra isu is a resumptive pronoun. As said in respect of subject focalisation, there exists both information structure and clause structure evidence that the objects in examples (3a-e) are focused. The lower occurrence that is not spelt out is said to be found in the IP internal position, while the highest occurrence that is pronounced and spelt out is said to have moved to the left peripheral position

Possessor DP Focus

Preposition DP Focus

Verb Focus

Derivation of Focus Constructions

Conclusion