Current issues of linguistics
108
1.child 1.AGR-FOC 5.car 5.SM-PST2-hit 1.yesterday
‘The car hit the child yesterday.’
(5)
Q: What’s happening?
A1: ɓɔɔŋgɛ́ ɓá- ń- tǒg ni mawándá mâp
2.children 2.SM-PRS-play with 6.friends 6.their
‘The children are playing with their friends.’
A2:
ɓɔɔŋgɛ́ ɓɔ́-n ɓá- ń-tǒg ni mawándá mâp
2.children 2.AGR-FOC 2.SM-PRS-play with 6.friends 6.their
‘The child are playing with their friends.’
(6)
TP
ɓɔɔŋgɛ́
5
T’
T
[EPP]
VP
ø
4
V ForceP
t
4
Force’ FocP
Foc
3
Force
AgrS-P
1
Foc’
ɓɔ́-n
3
> AgrCP
AgrC Foc
ɓɔ́
2
- n AgrC <
AgrS-P
i
>
<
ɓɔ́
2
->
<
ɓɔɔŋgɛ́
5
>
ɓá- ń- tɔg ni mawándá mâp
2.children 2.SM-PRS-play with 6.friends 6.their
In light of (6), sentence (5A2) is derived by moving the whole AgrS-P into the Spec-FocP
for
focus requirements, followed by
subextraction of the subject ɓɔɔŋgɛ́ ‘children’ into the
matrix TP headed by a null verbal copula for the EPP requirements. Given that the functional
Foc head cannot be stranded at spellout after
AgrS-P-to-FocP has taken place,
this Foc head
raises futhermore into the intermediate Force head position (Rizzi 1997 and subsequent work)
where it occupies the second position in clause structure and c-commanding AgrS-P at spellout.
As a result, the above data are an indication that cases like (4A2 and 5A2) are only misleading
on the surface i.e. they simply give a deceptive impression that it is
rather the subject that is
focused, which is not true under close scrutiny. From an interpretative perspective, the answers
in A2 above are instances of wide focus and not object or subject as it appears on the surface.
References:
1.
Chomsky, N. 1981.
Lectures on Government and Binding. Foris, Dordrecht.
2.
Fanselow, G. & Lenertová, D. (2010). ‘Left peripheral focus: mismatches between syntax and
information Structure’.
Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 29, 169-209
3.
Kayne, R. S. 1994. The antisymmetry of syntax. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
4.
Rizzi, L. 1997. “The Fine Structure of the Left Periphery”. In
Elements of Grammar,
5.
L. Haegeman (ed), 281–337, Kluwer, Dordrecht.
6.
Zubizaretta, M. L. (1998).
Prosody, Focus and Word Order. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Актуальные проблемы современной лингвистики
109
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