Question Formation and Focus Construction in Owo: A Yoruba Dialect

Abstract

Question formation and focusing are two transformational processes attested in Standard Yorùbá both of which have been extensively discussed in previous studies. However, very little is known about these concepts in Owo (Owò̩̩̀) a south-East Yoruba (Yorùbá) dialect. This study examines the concept of questions and focusing in Owo ̩̩̀̀dialect with a comparison of the processes in Standard Yorùbá. The study revealed some differences as well as similarities in the two processes in Owo ̩̩̀̀and standard Yorùbá. Just like in Standard Yorùbá, question markers in Owo ̩̩̀̀normally occur in sentence initial and final positions. However, the question marker de ̩̀constantly appears sentence medially before and before verbs in certain constructions. Furthermore, while the focus marker in Yorùbá normally occurs immediately after the focused item with a stable form, the focus marker in Owo ̩̩̀̀usually occurs at the sentence final position as a reduplicated form of the last syllable of the final item. Also, a pronoun which indicates number and agreement usually occurs immediately after the focused item in Owò̩̩̀. Finally, just like in Yorùbá, there is a syntactic relationship between question and focusing in Owo ̩̩̀̀dialect.

Keywords

• questions
• focusing
• Owò
• Yorùbá
• transformation