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Article published In: Linguistics in the Netherlands 2023
Edited by Sterre Leufkens and Marco Bril
[Linguistics in the Netherlands 40] 2023
► pp. 4–22

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The contact-based emergence of the subject-focus construction in Wolof

A dynamic perspective

 | Radboud University Nijmegen
 | Radboud University Nijmegen
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with Radboud University Nijmegen.

Published online: 3 November 2023
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https://doi.org/10.1075/avt.00076.bou
Abstract
In this article, we focus on the origin of the Wolof subject-focus construction (SFC) from a dynamic perspective. In Wolof, argument focus is expressed morpho-syntactically by means of copulaless cleft constructions consisting of the juxtaposition of the focus and a free relative clause. The free relative clause is headed by a determiner, which takes the form a in the case of the SFC. The determiner a is not found anywhere else in the language outside of SFC. We hypothesise that Wolof borrowed its SFC from Berber languages. The sociohistorical scenario, based on oral tradition, could have been the emergence of Wolof, as a crucible of contact between peoples of diverse origin including Berber groups. This finding is strengthened by the occurrence of other elements common to Wolof and Berber languages, such as clitic attraction, negation, copula insertion, as well as a number of lexical parallelisms.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The Wolof subject-focus construction
  • 3.Grammatical evidence for a borrowing scenario from Berber languages to Wolof
    • 3.1The expression of focus in Berber languages
    • 3.2Grammatical parallelisms between Wolof and Berber languages
    • 3.3Lexical parallelisms
  • 4.Triangulating evidence from history and oral tradition
    • 4.1Historical evidence
    • 4.2Oral tradition
  • 5.Final ideas
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
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