Focalizing ser (‘to be’) in Colombian Spanish
Cleft constructions are commonly used in Spanish to focalize arguments within a sentence. A
sentence such as (1) can be transformed into a cleft sentence such as (2), where the direct object is the
focalized element of the sentence, is c-commanded by the copula verb fue 'was' (> ser ‘to be’), and seems
to receive a narrow focus. As shown in (2), in cleft constructions a relative pronoun (LO QUE) matches the
FORMAL FEATURES of the direct object, which means that it heads a different clause. In several dialects of
Spanish (i.e. Venezuelan, Ecuadorian, Panamanian, Colombian, and Dominican), a sentence involving a
similar focus interpretation can also be created without the REL PRON and the COMP que (‘that’) as in (3).
The structure in (3) is called focalizing ser (FS), and I will show that it is part of the extended projection
of the main verb.
FS has been reported and described in the literature (Albor, 1986; Sedano, 1990), but its formal
properties have not been completely clarified, despite several efforts (Bosque, 1999; Toribio, 2002,
Curnow and Travis, 2003; Camacho, 2006). FS has been previously examined as an incomplete form of a
cleft structure (Albor, 1986; Sedano, 1990; Toribio, 2002), but later research shows that FS is
syntactically unrelated to clefts (Bosque, 1999; Curnow and Travis, 2003; Camacho, 2006). As shown in
(4a-b), FS allows clitic climbing, whereas the cleft construction does not (4c); this is evidence that FS is
not part of a different clause. In other words, while Clefts occur in the external periphery of the clause
(perhaps at the CP-level) (5a), FS (5b) is a clause-internal phenomenon. Given the focus properties of FS,
this clearly shows that the interface with the informational structure cannot be confined to the highest
periphery (in line with Belleti 2004).
FS also exhibits a range of syntactic properties, which have not been discussed in the literature. First,
the verb ser (‘to be’) must agree in tense with the main verb of the sentence (6a), but not necessarily in
number (6b). Secondly, FS may focus a wh in-situ (7a), but must not occur in cases of wh-extraction (7b).
Third, FS may intervene between auxiliaries (8a). Finally, ser can intervene between a noun and a postnominal modifier (8b), which seems to be a disruption of a DP.
I propose that FS is in a Focus Phrase, generated below TP and above vP, following Belletti’s (2004)
suggestion that both focus and topic projections may be found within the internal periphery of TP. This
TP-internal FocP is comprised by a [Spec, FP] and a Focus head F°, which in this case may be ser (‘to
be’). This allows us to satisfactorily explain the properties just described. FS-focused elements must
always stay within the TP-internal periphery to render a grammatical outcome. This is illustrated by the
fact that FS never occurs above TP (5b). Furthermore, FS must be generated outside vP, given that it can
occur between auxiliaries (8a).
Acceptability judgments for this study were collected from Colombian Spanish speakers in
Bucaramanga.
(1)
Juan
estudió
lingüística
Juan study-3SG-PAST linguistics
‘Juan studied linguistics’
(2)
lo
que Juan
estudió
fue
lingüística
to be-3SG-PAST linguistics
REL PRON that Juan study-3SG-PAST
‘What Juan studied was linguistics’
(3)
Juan
estudió
fue
lingüística
Juan study-3SG-PAST to be-3SG-PAST linguistics
‘It was linguistics what Juan studied’
(4a) ok Quiero
es
irme
de aquí
want1SG-PRES to be-3SG-PRES go-INF CL from here
‘What I want is to leave this place’
(4b) ok Me
quiero
es
ir
de aquí
CL want-1SG-PRES to be-3SG-PRES go-INF from here
(4c) *Lo
que
me
quiero
es
ir
de aquí
COMP
CL
want
to
bego
from
here
REL PRON
-1SG-PRES
3SG-PRES
-INF
(5a) ok Fue
lingüística lo
que
estudió
Juan
be-3SG-PAST linguistics REL PRON that study-3SG-PAST Juan
It was linguistics what Juan studied
(5b) *Fue
lingüística
estudió
Juan
be-3SG-PAST linguistics study-3SG-PAST Juan
(6a) Juan
estudiaba
era
lingüística
Juan study-3SG-IMPERF be-3SG-IMPERF linguistics
It was linguistics what Juan used to study
(6b) Tengo
son
dos gatos
have-1SG-PRES be-3PL-PRES two cats
It is two cats what I have
ok
(7a) ¿Juan
estudió
fue
qué?
Juan study-3SG-PAST be-3SG-PAST what
What was it that Juan studied?
(7b) *¿Qué Juan
estudió
fue?
what Juan study-3SG-PAST to be-3SG-PAST
(8a) Hemos
es
estado estudiando lingüística
have-1PL-PRES be-3SG-PRES be-PERF study-PROGR linguistics
What we have been doing is studying linguistics
(8b) Me
gusta
la música
es
moderna
CL like-3SG-PRES the music be-3SG-PRES modern
The way that I like music is modern
References
ALBOR, H.R. 1986. Uso e interpretación de ser en construcciones galicadas y en Él necesita es descansar.
Thesaurus XLI, 173-186.
BELLETTI, A. 2004. Aspects of the low IP area. In: The structure of IP and CP. The Cartography of Syntactic
Structures. Ed: Rizzi, L. 16-51. New York: Oxford University Press.
BOSQUE, I. 1999. On focus vs. wh-movement: The case of Caribbean Spanish. Sophia Linguistica 44-45: 1-32.
CAMACHO, J. 2006. In situ Focus in Caribbean Spanish: Towards a Unified Account of Focus. Selected Proceedings
of the 9th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium. N. Sagarra and A. J. Toribio (eds) pp. 13-23.
CURNOW, J. AND C. TRAVIS. 2003. The emphatic es construction of Colombian Spanish. Proceedings of the 2003
Conference of the Australian Linguistic Society, 1-11.
SEDANO, M. 1990. Hendidas y otras construcciones con ser en el habla de Caracas. Caracas: UCV.
TORIBIO, A.J. 2002. Focus on clefts in Dominican Spanish. In: J. F. Lee, K. L. Geeslin & J. C. Clements (eds),
Structure, meaning, and acquisition in Spanish. Somerville: Cascadilla Press, 130-146.