A note on Verum Focus in Tigrinya
Gioia Cacchioli
July 2024 

This paper provides novel data on the phenomenon of Verum Focus (Höhle 1988) in Tigrinya (Eritrea and Ethiopia, Ethio-Semitic, SOV). I claim that the copula used in individual-level predicates in this understudied language, ʔɨjju, also has the function of marking Verum Focus. I provide a preliminary analysis of the syntax of this element by suggesting that it is a verb that raises from its first merge position to the left periphery of the clause, more specifically to the head of a Focus projection. From this position ʔɨjju attracts constituents of different sizes to its specifier, conveying the meaning of Verum but also Contrastive and Exhaustive Focus in Tigrinya.

Format:	[ pdf ]
Reference:	lingbuzz/008275 (please use that when you cite this article)
Published in:	Markéta Janebová, Michaela Čakányová, and Joseph Emonds, eds. Language Use and Linguistic Structure. Proceedings of the Olomouc Linguistics Colloquium 2023. Olomouc: Palacký University, 2024
keywords:	tigrinya, ethio-semitic, verum, focus, copula, syntax, syntax
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