How 'person' got into focus: Grammaticalization of clefts in Lingala and Kikongo areas
| dc.contributor.author | van der Wal, J. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Maniacky, J. | |
| dc.coverage.spatial | Africa - Central | |
| dc.date | 2015 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2016-03-15T10:07:35Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2016-03-15T10:07:35Z | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 0024-3949 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://orfeo.belnet.be/handle/internal/2430 | |
| dc.description | In several Bantu languages in the regions where Kikongo and Lingala are spoken, we encounter sentences where the word person can appear after the subject of a canonical SVO sentence, resulting in a focused interpretation of the subject. Synchronically, we analyze this as a monoclausal focus construction with moto person as a focus marker. Diachronically, we argue, the construction derives from a biclausal cleft, where moto functioned as the head noun of the relative clause. This is a crosslinguistically rare but plausible development. The different languages studied in this paper show variation in the properties indicative of the status of the moto construction , which reflects the different stages of grammaticalization. Finally, we show how contact-induced grammaticalization is a likely factor in the development of moto as a focus marker. | |
| dc.language | eng | |
| dc.title | How 'person' got into focus: Grammaticalization of clefts in Lingala and Kikongo areas | |
| dc.type | Article | |
| dc.subject.frascati | Languages and Literature | |
| dc.audience | Scientific | |
| dc.subject.free | Culture & Society | |
| dc.source.title | Linguistics | |
| dc.source.volume | 53, 1 | |
| dc.source.page | 1-52 | |
| Orfeo.peerreviewed | Yes | |
| dc.identifier.doi | 10.1515/ling-2014-0033 | |
| dc.identifier.rmca | 4198 |
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