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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=FR link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>Dear Christian,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>You’ll find some data and references in the article attached to this message.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>Best,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>Denis<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>De :</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Lingtyp [mailto:lingtyp-bounces@listserv.linguistlist.org] <b>De la part de</b> Christian Lehmann<br><b>Envoyé :</b> dimanche 12 mars 2023 21:27<br><b>À :</b> LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG<br><b>Objet :</b> [Lingtyp] copula as focus marker<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p>Dear colleagues,<o:p></o:p></p><p>the literature available to me adduces a Caribbean Spanish example of what I am looking for:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Juan compró fue un libro.<br>John bought was a book<br>'A book is what John bought.' <o:p></o:p></p><p>The copula here separates the topical portion of the clause from the comment portion, including importantly the focus (to which this portion reduces in the example). Different sources of such a construction are conceivable, for instance a pseudo-cleft:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Lo que Juan compró fue un libro.<br>it that John bought was a book<br>'What John bought was a book.' <o:p></o:p></p><p>What concerns me at the moment, however, is the bare copula in the function of a focus marker. I am sure I have seen or heard sentences like the following in Portuguese:<o:p></o:p></p><p>O João comprou foi um livro.<o:p></o:p></p><p>or with neutralization of tense and, thus, reduction to the default form of the copula:<o:p></o:p></p><p>O João comprou é um livro.<o:p></o:p></p><p>However, I cannot seem to find evidence for this, neither primary data nor linguistic treatments of it. Could you please help me out? Both references to the linguistic literature and examples, preferably from Portuguese, but also from any other language (I do have data from Mandarin!) would be welcome.<o:p></o:p></p><p>Thanks in advance,<o:p></o:p></p><p>Christian<o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>-- <o:p></o:p></p><p><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Prof. em. Dr. Christian Lehmann<br>Rudolfstr. 4<br>99092 Erfurt<br><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Deutschland</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellpadding=0><tr><td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.5pt'>Tel.:<o:p></o:p></span></p></td><td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.5pt'>+49/361/2113417<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr><td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.5pt'>E-Post:<o:p></o:p></span></p></td><td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.5pt'><a href="mailto:christianw_lehmann@arcor.de">christianw_lehmann@arcor.de</a><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr><td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.5pt'>Web:<o:p></o:p></span></p></td><td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.5pt'><a href="https://www.christianlehmann.eu">https://www.christianlehmann.eu</a><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr></table><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></body></html>