eto - query

[AHetzer]

Moshe Taube wrote:
> Thus: Eto Sasha uvidel Mashu. It is Sasha that saw Masha.
> but allegedly

Generally spoken, it is the problem of cleft sentences and pseudo cleft
constructions in languages outside Standard Average European. I think
there are no such constructions in any Slavic language, because they use
other features for focussing or foregrounding, e. g. Sasha-to uvidel
Mashu.

However, we know that colloquial style often behaves different from what
school grammars describe. Therefore it would be interesting to learn
what native speakers living in Russia think about utterances like the
above-mentioned: (i) are they grammatical?, (ii) are they acceptable or
understandable?

--
Prof. Dr. Armin Hetzer
FB 10, Universitaet Bremen
P.O.B. 33 04 40, D 28334 Bremen
URL: http://www1.uni-bremen.de/~hetzer

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