Ways of emphatic scope-taking: From emphatic assertion in Nupe to the grammar of emphasis

Abstract

This article investigates emphatic assertion in Nupe, a Benue-Congo language of central Nigeria. Two distinct varieties are attested in the language: a syntactically restricted type that employs a clause-final discourse particle to achieve veridical interpretations and a syntactically unrestricted and interpretationally weaker form that employs verb doubling. I argue that the core distributional and interpretive properties of the two varieties are derivable entirely on syntactic grounds. To account for Nupe's two emphatic marking strategies, I propose that Universal Grammar makes available at least two emphatic domains: a high left peripheral domain from which the emphatic operator takes scope over polarity and a low TP-internal site in which the operator is outscoped by polarity. Consequently, emphasis is syntactically restricted and semantically strongest when activating the peripheral domain and unrestricted/weakened when invoking the lower clause-internal domain. This analysis parallels the high (outer) vs. low (inner) focus domain duality and casts independent support for the existence of low (TP-internal) assertion domains.