Abstract
Avatime is a Kwa language spoken in Ghana. [1] It has a focus construction in which the focused element is placed in clause-initial position and marked with an extra-high tone. In this paper I discuss the functions of this focus construction, mostly based on a corpus of spontaneous discourse. The focus construction can mark focus on subjects, objects, adjuncts and verbs. Focus marking is usually interpreted as narrow focus on the focus-marked element, but the focus may be wider. Focus marking is not obligatory. In answers to questions, it is rarely used, except when the focused element is the subject. In other contexts, the focus construction is mostly used for contrastive purposes, indicating there are alternatives to the focused element or that the focused element is unexpected. These functions can be unified in the definition of focus marking as highlighting the common-ground update.
Abbreviations
- 1
first person
- 2
second person
- add
additive
- c
noun class
- cfh
clause-final high tone
- cm
clause marker
- comp
complementizer
- ctr
contrastive
- def
definite
- dist
distal demonstrative
- foc
focus
- fp
final particle
- hab
habitual
- indf
indefinite
- inf
infinitive
- int
intentional
- it
itive
- loc
locative
- log
logophoric
- neg
negative
- pfv
perfective
- poss
possessive
- pot
potential
- prog
progressive
- prox
proximal demonstrative
- rec
recurrent
- rel
relative
- sbj
subject
- sbjv
subjunctive
- svm
serial verb marker
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