Extraction or Focus

Sereer has grammaticalized focus marking. This page is dedicated to explaining these patterns.

Introduction

Sereer employs special morphology on the verb when a constituent has been fronted for focus or wh-marking. This morphology generally involves the vowel u, and therefore is sometimes referred to as u-morphology here. Examples are below:

<gl fontsize=11> Yande nafu Jegan \gll Yande naf-u Jegan Yande hit-foc Jegan \trans It's Yande who hit Jegan. (165) </gl>

<gl fontsize=11> Yande anafu. \gll Yande a= naf-u Yande 3sg.sbj hit-foc \trans It's Yande he hit. (165) </gl>

<gl fontsize=11> xar ajawu. \gll xar a= jaw-u what 3sg.sbj cook-foc \trans What did he cook?. </gl>

Example (1) is an instance of subject focus. The verb takes the suffix -u and has no subject marking. Example (2) shows object marking, where the object Yande has been fronted and the -u again occurs. Finally, we see an object wh-question, and the suffix -u again surfaces.

U-Extraction in Wh-questions

See the page on Questions. When a licensed argument---either licensed by the verb itself or by an applicative suffix---is fronted to form a WH-question, the suffixal marker of extraction -u is added to the verb. This suffix is visible if the relevant clause's verb is not marked for ongoing action, in which case the -u suffix seems to be deleted by the -a 'PROG' suffix.

Reduplication of predicates cannot occur when question-related wh-extraction of the subject is marked: qaarit ke a laaɓiira (laaɓiir) 'the friends are generous' but qaarit qum laaɓiiru (*laaɓiir)?, 'which friends are generous?' (115)

Syntax

Focus marking and wh-question formation both involve fronting of the constituent in focus or in question. Other arguments stay in the same position. These constructions should probably be analyzed as involving only a single clause. Evidence for this comes from resumption. When a pause is inserted between Yande and the verb in (2), the verb must take the object suffix -(i)n:

<gl fontsize=11> Yande, anafun. \gll Yande a= naf-u-n Yande, 3sg.sbj hit-foc \trans Yande, it's him who he hit. (165) </gl>

I (Nico) take this to indicate that Yande above is clause external and coreferenced with the pronominal suffix on the verb. This contrasts to example (2) in the introduction, where Yande seemingly occupies the same position but there is no resumption.

U-Focus

Extraction and fronting of an argument with verbal -u marking can also be used to signal focus on the fronted argument.

a buga [o gar].

a=	bug	-a	o=	gar
3SG	want	NPT	2SG	come

He wants you to come. (151)

[o gar] a bugu.

o=	gar	a=	bug	-u
2SG	come	3SG	want	EXTR.ARG

He wants you to come. (151)

More to come shortlyFaytak 00:29, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

kaa

The "preverb" kaa may mark verbal focus on the verb immediately following. More research is needed on this point.