The clause, the root of [subject [verb object adjunct]].
Used by Answer.Licensed, Answer.focus_eq_clause_of_antiPiedPipes, antiPiedPipes_clause
Docs / Studies / Studies.Aremu2025a
Focus sensitivity in Mabia and Yoruboid
Aremu, D. (2025). PhD thesis, Goethe University Frankfurt
In Yorùbá a focus either stays in place, with no particle and no prosodic prominence, or a constituent is fronted and followed by ni. The fronted constituent need not be the logical focus, the part of the answer the question asks for: asked what happened?, Tolú ni ó jẹ iṣu 'TOLÚ ATE YAM' fronts the subject of a focused clause, which Branan and Erlewine call anti-pied-piping, but a focused verb phrase cannot be answered by fronting its object. Aremu's dissertation also shows that a focused subject must front, leaving a resumptive pronoun, and that only a fronted focus is exhaustive.
Main definitions
Aremu2025a.Answer: an answer by its logical focus and the constituent it fronts.Aremu2025a.Answer.reflexes,Aremu2025a.Answer.Licensed: its overt marking, and the conditions on what it may front.
Implementation notes
Constituents are positions in the clause [subject [verb object adjunct]], ordered by
containment, the dual of the prefix order on TreePath. Resumptives are the subject pronouns of
Yoruba.Pronouns, in Awobuluyi's forms (wọn where (188a) prints wọ́n). Awobuluyi gives the
clause after ni the changes of a relative clause, which relTi_realize_eq_vacated checks.
TODO
- Long-distance focus, the island tests separating base-generated subject focus from moved object focus, and the argument from extraction that the construction is mono-clausal.
References
- Aremu 2025a, Focus sensitivity in Mabia and Yoruboid
- Awobuluyi 1978, Essentials of Yoruba Grammar
- Branan & Erlewine 2023, Anti-pied-piping formalized
Constituents
The subject.
Used by vacated, vacated_eq_resumptive, Answer.Licensed, antiPiedPipes_clause, not_licensed_subject_inSitu
Answers and their reflexes
An answer records its logical focus, the constituent the question asks for, the constituent it fronts before ni, if any, and the person and number of the focus, which a resumptive agrees with.
- focus : Core.Order.TreePath
- fronted : Option Core.Order.TreePath
- person : Person
- number : Number
Used by Answer.resumptive, Answer.reflexes, Answer.reflexes_eq_empty, Answer.exactlyTargets_reflexes, Answer.reflexes_nonempty, Answer.antiPiedPipes_iff, Answer.Exhaustive, Answer.instDecidableExhaustive, Answer.Licensed, Answer.instDecidableLicensed, Answer.focus_eq_clause_of_antiPiedPipes, not_antiPiedPipes_vp, not_perceptible, Answer.ofRow?, Accepts, instDecidableAccepts
A fronted subject leaves a resumptive pronoun in its position, and anything else leaves a gap.
- vacated m = if m = subject then Relativization.NPRel.resumptive else Relativization.NPRel.gap
Built from
Built from ,
The resumptive of a fronted subject, at the subject position.
The definition is too large to print here; read it in the source.
Built from
The overt reflexes of an answer. In place there are none; a fronted constituent is displaced and followed by ni, and a fronted subject is resumed.
The definition is too large to print here; read it in the source.
Built from
Used by Answer.reflexes_eq_empty, Answer.exactlyTargets_reflexes, Answer.reflexes_nonempty, Answer.antiPiedPipes_iff, Answer.focus_eq_clause_of_antiPiedPipes, antiPiedPipes_clause, not_antiPiedPipes_vp, not_perceptible
{a : Answer} {m : Core.Order.TreePath} (h : a.fronted = some m) :
Reflex.ExactlyTargets a.reflexes (OrderDual.toDual m)
Built from ,
Built from ,
An answer anti-pied-pipes its focus exactly when what it fronts lies properly inside it.
{a : Answer} :
Reflex.AntiPiedPipes a.reflexes (OrderDual.toDual a.focus) ↔ ∃ m ∈ a.fronted, a.focus < m
Built from ,
A fronted focus is exhaustive and a focus in place is not.
- a.Exhaustive = (a.fronted ≠ none)
Built from
Used by Answer.instDecidableExhaustive, Accepts
- Answer.instDecidableExhaustive = { decide := !decide (a.fronted = none), reflects_decide := ⋯ }
Built from ,
A focused subject fronts, and a fronted constituent is a proper part of the clause that is the focus itself or a part of a focused clause.
- a.Licensed = ((a.focus = subject → a.fronted = some subject) ∧ ∀ m ∈ a.fronted, clause < m ∧ (m = a.focus ∨ a.focus = clause))
Built from , ,
Used by Answer.instDecidableLicensed, Answer.focus_eq_clause_of_antiPiedPipes, antiPiedPipes_clause, not_antiPiedPipes_vp, not_licensed_vp_object, not_licensed_subject_inSitu, not_perceptible, Accepts
The definition is too large to print here; read it in the source.
Built from ,
Only a focused clause is marked on a proper part.
Built from , , ,
Built from , , ,
Built from , ,
Built from ,
A focus in place has no reflex in any channel, as Adé ra bàtà 'Adé bought A SHOE' has neither particle nor prominence.
Built from , ,
Relativization
The relativizable position of a constituent, the adjunct an oblique.
The definition is too large to print here; read it in the source.
Used by relTi_realize_eq_vacated
A fronted subject is resumed and a fronted object or adjunct leaves a gap, as relativization with tí treats them, which Awobuluyi's grammar gives to the clause after ni.
{m : Core.Order.TreePath} {p : Relativization.Position} (h : relativePosition m = some p) :
Yoruba.relTi.realize p = {vacated m}
Built from ,
The rows
The positions the rows name.
The definition is too large to print here; read it in the source.
The answer a row records, by its focus, what it fronts and the number of the focus.
The definition is too large to print here; read it in the source.
Built from
Used by judgedFelicitous_iff
A row carries ni, a word glossed as the focus marker.
- Marked r = ((Yoruba.ni.form, "FOC") ∈ r.glossedTokens)
Used by instDecidableMarked, Accepts
- instDecidableMarked r = { decide := decide (List.elem (Yoruba.ni.form, "FOC") r.glossedTokens = true), reflects_decide := ⋯ }
Built from
The model accepts a row when its answer is licensed, carries ni exactly when it fronts, and is followed by an additive only when it is not exhaustive.
- Accepts a r = (a.Licensed ∧ (Marked r ↔ a.fronted ≠ none) ∧ (r.feature? "continuation" = some "additive" → ¬a.Exhaustive))
Built from , , ,
Used by instDecidableAccepts, judgedFelicitous_iff
The definition is too large to print here; read it in the source.
Built from ,
Every row records an answer, which the model accepts exactly when the chapter judges the row felicitous.
Built from ,