Datapoint Nigerian Pidgin/Focusing of the noun phrase

The item nà, which straddles the boundary between copular and non-copular highlighter is frequently used to introduce a focused item in a cleft construction. The constituent final particles bà, kwà, and shà may follow the focused item and precede the background clause to signal predicate clefting.

Values

Cleft with focus particle before focus Frequency: 39.1%

Example 17-180:
Nà mà fada (shà) we̱ byud dì haws.
Nà
hl
mà
1s.poss
fada
father
(shà)
(pcl)
we̱
rel
byud
build
dì
art.def
haws.
house
It is my father who built the house.
Confidence:
Very certain

Fronting with particle before focus Frequency: 39.1%

Example 17-216:
Nà mà fada (shà) byud dì haws.
Nà
hl
mà
1s.poss
fada
father
(shà)
(pcl)
byud
build
dì
art.def
haws.
house
It is my father who built the house.

Cleft with focus particle after focus Frequency: 13.0%

Example 17-181:
Mà fada shà we̱ byud dì haws.
Mà
1s.poss
fada
father
shà
pcl
we̱
rel
byud
build
dì
art.def
haws.
house
It is my father who built the house.
Confidence:
Very certain

Bare cleft (without highlighter) Frequency: 4.3%

Example 17-183:
Mà fada we̱ byud dì haws.
Mà
1s.poss
fada
father
we̱
rel
byud
build
dì
art.def
haws.
house
It is my father who built the house.
Confidence:
Very certain

Cleft with copula before focus Frequency: 4.3%

Example 17-182:
Ì bì mà fada (shà) we̱ byud dì haws.
Ì
3sg.sbj.expl
bì
cop
mà
1s.poss
fada
father
(shà)
(pcl)
we̱
rel
byud
build
dì
art.def
haws.
house
It is my father who built the house.
Confidence:
Very certain