Extraction or Focus
From Sereer wiki
Jump to navigationJump to searchOne frequent change in normal Sereer word order is the fronting of a constituent that signals focus on the fronted constituent. Examples are below, and will be elaborated upon eventually. Note that a suffix -u co-occurs with this fronting in nearly all cases; this could be analyzed as an extraction marker. Exponence of non-past tense in the second example is not clear.
| 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)
