Clefts and focus in Yucatec Maya

• Main Author: Rodrigo Gutiérrez-Bravo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: El Colegio de México, A.C. 2017-03-01
• Series: Cuadernos de Lingüística de El Colegio de México
• Subjects: maya yucateco; lenguas mayas; foco; oraciones escindidas; estructura de la información
• Online Access: https://cuadernoslinguistica.colmex.mx/index.php/cl/article/view/52

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