Cover not available
Part of
East and West of The Pentacrest: Linguistic studies in honor of Paula Kempchinsky
Edited by Timothy Gupton and Elizabeth Gielau
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 33] 2021
► pp. 17–40

Chapter 1
Interpretation of focus in Haitian Creole se-clefts

| University of Iowa
| University of Iowa

While past literature on Haitian Creole focus structures primarily concentrates on predicate clefts (see DeGraff, 1995; Glaude & Zribi-Hertz, 2012; Harbour, 2008; Lefebvre, 1990), few authors use empirical data to justify proposed interpretations of clefts. In this paper, we empirically test which interpretations are available in se-clefts, expanding on previous work on clefts in Haitian Creole and other languages. Our first experiment investigates the influence of predicate gradability (Harbour, 2008) and syntactic structure (Glaude & Zribi-Hertz, 2012) on predicate cleft interpretation, using a felicity judgment task. Prior work on Haitian se-clefts has not discussed the exhaustive inference, an inference conveyed in similar clefts cross-linguistically (see Destruel et al., 2015; Horn, 1981). Our second experiment examines the exhaustivity inference in both predicate and nominal se-clefts, comparing Haitian speakers’ judgments to results from similar clefts in other languages, particularly French, via a forced-choice task adapted from Onea and Beaver (2011).

Keywords: Clefts, Predicate clefts, Focus, Haitian Creole, French, Information structure
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1What is focus?
    • 2.2French and Haitian Creole clefts
    • 2.3The syntax of se-clefts
    • 2.4Past accounts of the interpretation of (se-)clefts
    • 2.5Exhaustivity
  • 3.Research questions and hypotheses
  • 4.Empirical data
    • 4.1Contrast and intensity in predicate clefts
      • 4.1.1Goals
      • 4.1.2Informants
      • 4.1.3Design and materials
      • 4.1.4Procedure
      • 4.1.5Results
    • 4.2Exhaustivity inference
      • 4.2.1Informants
      • 4.2.2Design and materials
      • 4.2.3Procedure
      • 4.2.4Results
  • 5.Discussion and conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 10 May 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.33.01wal
References
Aboh, E.
(2006) When verbal predicates go fronting. ZAS Papers in Linguistics, 46, 21–48. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Casielles-Suárez, E.
(1999) Notes on the topic-focus articulation. In J. Gutiérrez-Rexach & F. Martinez-Gil (Eds.), Advances in hispanic linguistics (pp. 346–363). Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
DeGraff, M.
(1992) Creole grammars and acquisition of syntax: The case of Haitian (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
(1995) Predicate-movement, quantification, events and properties. Niger-Congo Syntax & Semantics, 6, 69–82.Google Scholar
Destruel, E.
(2012) The French c’est-cleft: An empirical study on its meaning and use. In C. Piñón (Ed.), Empirical issues in syntax and semantics 9 (pp. 95–112). Retrieved on 18 November 2020 from [URL]
Destruel, E., Velleman, D., Onea, E., Bumford, D., Xue, J., & Beaver, D.
(2015) A cross-linguistic study of the non-at-issueness of exhaustive inferences. In F. Schwarz (Ed.), Experimental perspectives on presuppositions (pp. 135–156). Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Destruel, E., & De Veaugh-Geiss, J.
(2017) On the interpretation and processing of exhaustivity: Evidence of cross-linguistic variation in clefts. Journal of Pragmatics, 121, 58–75. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Glaude, H., & Zribi-Hertz, A.
(2012) Verb focus in Haitian: From lexical reiteration to predicate cleft. In E. Aboh, N. Smith, & A. Zribi-Hertz (Eds.), The morphosyntax of reiteration in creole and non-creole languages (pp. 77–134). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Harbour, D.
(2008)  Klivaj predika, or predicate clefts in Haitian. Lingua, 118, 853–871. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Horn, L.
(1981) Exhaustiveness and the semantics of clefts. In V. Burke & J. Pustejovsky (Eds.), Proceedings of 11th meeting of the North East Linguistics Society (pp. 125–142). GLSA, University of Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Krifka, M.
(2008) Basic notions of information structure. Acta Linguistica Hungarica, 55(3–4), 243–276. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Larson, R., & Lefebvre, C.
(1991) Predicate clefting in Haitian creole. In T. Sherer (Ed.), Proceedings of NELS 21 (pp. 247–261). GLSA, University of Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Lefebvre, C.
(1990) On the interpretation of predicate clefts. The Linguistic Review, 6, 169–194.Google Scholar
Onea, E., & Beaver, D.
(2011) Hungarian focus is not exhausted. In E. Cormany, S. Ito, & D. Lutz (Eds.), Proceedings of SALT, 19 (pp. 342–359). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pavlou, N.
(2015) Explicit and implicit exhaustivity in focus. In C. Brown, Q. Gu, C. Loos, J. Mielens, & G. Neveu (Eds.), Proceedings of the 15th Texas Linguistic Society Conference, Austin TX, USA. Retrieced on 18 November 2020 from [URL]
Zimmermann, M.
(2008) Contrastive focus and emphasis. Acta Linguistica Hungarica, 55(3–4), 347–360. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2016) Predicate focus. In C. F’ery & L. Shin (Eds.), Handbook of information structure (pp. 314–335). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar