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Focus: Difference between revisions
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<div class=float-right> | |||
{{vocabulary|Focus markers| | |||
{{voc|béı|||focus and emphasis}} | |||
{{voc|kú|||focus}} | |||
{{voc|máo||… also; … as well; … additionally}} | |||
{{voc|tó||only …; … exclusively}} | |||
{{voc|júaq||even …}}}} | |||
</div> | |||
{{refgram|syntax|focus}} | |||
'''Focus''' is a device for highlighting new and important information. In English, focus is often represented by emphasis or by word order. In Toaq, we have the luxury of tagging phrases with little markers like {{t|kú}}, known as '''focus markers''', conveying the function and relevancy of the phrase with respect to the whole clause. Let’s look at how. | |||
== {{t|béı}} – the emphasis marker == | |||
The easiest focus marker to explain, and the perfect one to bootstrap your understanding with. {{t|béı}}’s function is ''to emphasize the phrase and to deny any suggestion to the contrary''. We’re sitting in a café and you say: | |||
<blockquote><poem> | |||
{{t|Ma cho súq nóqse po {{orange|káfe}} suqbo?}} | |||
<i>Do you like the taste of your {{orange|coffee}}?</i> | |||
</poem></blockquote> | |||
But it’s not {{orange|coffee}} you’re drinking. Your order was different. This is where {{t|béı}} comes in – it serves to '''correct or contrast''' information. So you say back: | |||
<blockquote><poem> | |||
{{t|Haqsue jí {{green|béı báq chaı}} da!}} | |||
<i>I ordered {{green|'''tea'''}}!</i> | |||
<i>It’s {{green|''tea''}} that I ordered – not something else that you may have implied!</i> | |||
</poem></blockquote> | |||
Another example to hammer this idea in: | |||
<blockquote><poem> | |||
<b>A:</b> {{t|Do súq jí túpa {{orange|shı}} ba.}} | |||
<i>Give me the pot {{orange|[not pot'''s''']}}.</i> | |||
<b>B:</b> {{t|Kéo tı sá tupa {{green|bẹıpuq}} nírıaq.}} | |||
<i>But there are {{green|'''multiple'''}} pots in here.</i> | |||
<b>A:</b> {{t|Sıanha, jé hao súq {{blue|bẹ́ıtuq}} hao ba.}} | |||
<i>Never mind, so get me {{blue|'''all of'''}} them [instead].</i> (Literally: <i>Do stuff with {{blue|'''all of'''}} the stuffs.</i> How poetic indeed.) | |||
</poem></blockquote> | |||
Here we see B denying A’s claim that there’s one contextually relevant pot (because the kitchen had multiple in store), and then A ''also'' walking back the specifics of their request by instead asking for all of the pots and not [the] one. This is to highlight the fact that {{t|béı}} doesn’t need to target insinuations of the other person’s – they can equally well apply to something you yourself may earlier have implied to be the case. The sentences also demonstrate the use of the prefix form, {{t|beı-}}: | |||
== Focus markers vs. focus marker [[prefix]]es == | |||
Every focus marker has a homophonous prefix form: {{t|beı-}} for {{t|béı}}, {{t|to-}} for {{t|tó}}, etc. The only difference focus marker prefixes offer is that they act on just the word they’re attached to, whereas plain focus markers act on the entire following phrase. For instance, note the contrast between: | |||
<blockquote><poem> | |||
{{t|Jıbo {{orange|béı túq nıu nıtı}}.}} | |||
<i>It’s {{orange|all the plants here}} that are mine,</i> (and not the wrapped gifts, for example) | |||
{{t|Jıbo {{green|bẹ́ıtuq}} nıu nıtı.}} | |||
<i>It’s {{orange|all}} the plants here [– not just some –] that are mine.</i> | |||
{{t|Jıbo túq nıu {{blue|bẹınıtı}}.}} | |||
<i>It’s {{blue|here}} [– not elsewhere –] that every plant there is mine.</i> | |||
{{t|Jıbo túq {{red|bẹınıu}} nıtı.}} | |||
<i>All of the {{red|plants}} here are mine.</i> (These are {{red|plants}}, not flowers like you said.) | |||
</poem></blockquote> | |||
== {{t|kú}} – the plain focus marker == | |||
{{t|kú}} is subtler. You might already use something like Toaq {{t|kú}} speaking English in your day-to-day life without realizing, by modulating the tone of your voice. All {{t|kú}} does is point at the information that’s '''new or relevant or makes the point of what you’re saying'''. One way to think about this is: there’s an implicit question you’re answering. What is that question asking for? That’s what {{t|kú}} is meant to show. The standard demonstration for this is one in which we emphasize different words in the same sentence and observe the results: | |||
<blockquote><poem> | |||
What are you up to? – | |||
{{t|Chum som jí ní kompıuta.}} | |||
<i>I’m fixing this computer.</i> (No special focus put on anything.) | |||
{{orange|Who}}’s fixing this computer? – | |||
{{t|Chum som {{orange|kú jí}} ní kompıuta.}} | |||
<i>{{orange|It’s me who’s}} building the computer.</i> | |||
{{green|What}} are you working on fixing? – | |||
{{t|Chum som jí {{green|kú ní kompıuta}}.}} | |||
<i>{{green|It’s this computer}} that I’m fixing.</i> | |||
{{blue|What}} are you doing to the computer? | |||
{{t|Chum {{blue|kụsom}} jí ní kompıuta.}} | |||
<i>{{blue|It’s fixing that}} I’m doing to this computer.</i> | |||
{{gray|What}} is this thing you’re fixing? | |||
{{t|Chum som jí ní {{gray|kụkompıuta}}.}} | |||
<i>This thing {{gray|is a computer}} that I’m fixing.</i> | |||
(This one is hard to phrase in English, so beware:) {{red|At what stage}} are you fixing this computer? Started, doing, done? | |||
{{t|{{red|Kụchum}} som jí ní kompıuta.}} | |||
<i>It’s {{red|in the process of}} fixing the computer that I am.</i> | |||
</poem></blockquote> | |||
=== {{t|kú}} vs. {{t|béı}}, again === | |||
Remember that {{t|kú}} merely '''points at''' information‚ whereas {{t|béı}} '''points and contrasts'''. This might be a nuanced distinction, but observe how it manifests in this example: | |||
<blockquote><poem> | |||
What are you having? | |||
{{t|Chụmchuq jí {{orange|kú báq maoja}}.}} | |||
<i>I’m eating {{orange|a banana}}.</i> (I’m answering your question and highlighting the actual answer.) | |||
{{t|Chụmchuq jí {{green|béı báq maoja}}.}} | |||
<i>It’s {{green|a banana}} that I’m eating {{green|and not something else}}.</i> Perhaps you very often see me eating apples, but today is {{green|not}} an apple day and I’m pointing this out to you. | |||
</poem></blockquote> | |||
== “Focus adverbials”, or spicy markers == | |||
Let’s look at {{t|máo}}, {{t|tó}}, and {{t|júaq}}. Officially they’re called focus adverbials but you shouldn’t think of them as being any distinct from the other two. | |||
Remember the emphasis exercise we did a while ago? A key observation in the case of adverbs like <i>as well</i> and <i>only</i> is that they target whatever in the sentence is emphasized. Observe: | |||
* <i>I only know his boyfriend.</i> (Ambiguous.) | |||
* <i>I only '''know''' his boyfriend.</i> (I haven’t really talked to him much.) | |||
* <i>I only know his '''boyfriend'''.</i> (His friends and acquaintances, I don’t really know those.) | |||
{{t|tó}} moves around the sentence in the same vein: | |||
<blockquote><poem> | |||
{{t|Zao jí {{orange|tó máıgaq hobo}} dâ.}} | |||
<i>I {{orange|only}} know {{orange|his boyfriend}},</i> not the other people you’ve mentioned. | |||
{{t|{{orange|Tọzao}} jí máıgaq hobo dâ.}} | |||
<i>I {{orange|only know}} his boyfriend,</i> he and I don’t text. | |||
{{t|Zao jí máıgaq {{orange|tọhobo}} dâ.}} | |||
<i>I {{orange|only}} know {{orange|his}} boyfriend</i> – I don’t know who your partner is, for example. | |||
</poem></blockquote> | |||