FOCUS CONSTRUCTIONS IN SOMALI

The purpose of this study is to provide a syntactic analysis of focus constructions in Somali in the framework of transformational-generative grammar. The emphasis is on NP focus constructions with the focus marker baa--a very common construction in Somali.; Focus is a predominant phenomenon in Somali. One constituent in every indicative affirmative sentence must be marked by a focus marker as the focus of the sentence. The focus marker may occur in either an unconjugated form or in a conjugated form where it is coalesced with a subject clitic. The analysis proposed in this study accounts for the distribution of the various forms of the focus marker.; The main problem which the thesis addresses is that focused non-subject noun phrases are marked by a focus marker which agrees with the subject of the sentence. Thus it may appear as if Somali exhibits an unusual phenomenon of agreement between subjects and objects.; The analysis which is proposed in this study makes it unnecessary to postulate such an agreement. According to this analysis any focused NP, regardless of its grammatical relation is extracted out of its clause and moved to a position in COMP where it is marked by the invariable unconjugated form of the focus marker. The conjugated form of the focus marker is the outcome of phonological rules which coalesce the focus marker with a subject clitic and are independent of the analysis of focus.; One important consequence of the analysis is that a logical subject which is marked as the focus by the focus marker, is not the grammatical subject of the sentence. Hence sentences in which the logical subject is focused are grammatically subjectless.; An analysis of the presence and distribution of subject clitics is proposed and the role of subject clitics in various types of clauses is discussed.