Focus constructions in Hausa

Abstract

This paper investigates focus constructions in Hausa, a Chadic language spoken mainly in the north of Nigeria. It examines the syntax of two strategies of focus marking in this language, the ex situ and the in situ strategy. The former strategy was previously claimed by almost all scholars of Hausa to be the unique means of focus marking available in the language. Recently, however, the latter strategy has been suggested to be an alternative to focus fronting. Due to the observation that ex situ focus is rather infrequent in the language, it is claimed here that in situ focus is probably much more widespread than otherwise assumed in the literature.