Clefts and focus in Yucatec Maya

Authors

  • Rodrigo Gutiérrez-Bravo El Colegio de México

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24201/clecm.v4i1.52

Keywords:

Yucatec Maya, Mayan, focus, clefts, Information Structure

Abstract

Yucatec Maya (Mayan, Mexico) shows a number of focus constructions where foci appear to the left of the verb, similarly to what has been observed in languages like Hungarian. There has been extensive debate in Yucatec specifically, and in Mayan languages in general, as to whether or not these focus constructions are clefts. This paper contributes to this ongoing debate by presenting four new types of evidence that point to the conclusion that focus constructions in Yucatec are not clefts. The evidence presented here indicates that monoclausal focus constructions and clefts are different with respect to (i) the obligatory nature of agent focus morphology; (ii) the possibility of inversion; (iii) the possibility of having a negative pronoun as the focus, and; (iv) the possibility of having verb focus constructions.

 

Original received: 2016/01/29

Review sent to author: 2016/03/28

Accepted: 2016/11/21

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Published

2017-03-11

How to Cite

Gutiérrez-Bravo, R. (2017). Clefts and focus in Yucatec Maya. Cuadernos De Lingüística De El Colegio De México (CLECM), 4(1), 5–47. https://doi.org/10.24201/clecm.v4i1.52
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Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2017): Volume 4, Number 1 (January-June 2017)

Section

Research Articles

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