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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Dear Christian,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Copulas acting as focus markers without a relative particle are common in Semitic, see:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Goldenberg, Gideon. 1973. ‘Imperfectly-Transformed Cleft Sentences’. In
<i>Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies</i>, 1:127–33. Jerusalem: World Union of Jewish Studies.
<a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/23515560">http://www.jstor.org/stable/23515560</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Khan, Geoffrey. 2018. ‘Remarks on the Syntax and Historical Development of the Copula In North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic Dialects’.
<i>Aramaic Studies</i> 16: 234–69.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Khan, Geoffrey. 2019. ‘Copulas, Cleft Sentences and Focus Markers in Biblical Hebrew’. In
<i>Ancient Texts and Modern Readers: Studies in Ancient Hebrew Linguistics and Bible Translation</i>, edited by Gideon R. Kotzé, Christian S. Locatell, and John A. Messarra, 14–62. Leiden-Boston: Brill.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">I am attaching them here.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Best wishes <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Geoffrey<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Geoffrey Khan<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Regius Professor of Hebrew<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">University of Cambridge<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Sidgwick Avenue<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Cambridge CB3 9DA, UK<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces@listserv.linguistlist.org>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Christian Lehmann<br>
<b>Sent:</b> 12 March 2023 20:27<br>
<b>To:</b> LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Lingtyp] copula as focus marker<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<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 Joăo 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 Joăo 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>
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<p class="MsoNormal">-- <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt">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>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt">Tel.:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt">+49/361/2113417<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt">E-Post:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><a href="mailto:christianw_lehmann@arcor.de">christianw_lehmann@arcor.de</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt">Web:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.christianlehmann.eu%2F&data=05%7C01%7Cgk101%40universityofcambridgecloud.onmicrosoft.com%7C6c5ed16846234b00c49308db23382fcb%7C49a50445bdfa4b79ade3547b4f3986e9%7C1%7C0%7C638142496452989485%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=FsR77%2FcV930q6QeShsQ%2FHKFxti1ZTIpL25N%2F5SNtGAg%3D&reserved=0">https://www.christianlehmann.eu</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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