Abstract
In Igbo, the kà morpheme is a focus marker which immediately follows the object in the object DP focus construction, Nwachukwu (1995), Agbo (2013) and Nweya (2016). The marker is also found in cleft constructions and in other constituent focus other than the subject DP focus. However, it has been observed that whenever the object DP carries (new) information focus (Agbo (2013)), more specifically, when the object DPs are focused in a way that they are found in responses to wh-questions, the focus marker kà is not found. The same is true for subject DPs. This paper, therefore, adopting a descriptive approach seeks to investigate that form/nature of the focus marker employed in object DP (new) information focus and in subject DP focus. Data were mostly collected through secondary sources which include published articles and unpublished thesis. Additional data were obtained from some native speakers through a syntactic checklist. The paper reveals that a covert variant of the focus marker is employed in subject DP focus and in object DP focus constructions where the object DP is found in the VP; when it presents (new) information focus in responses to content word questions, and in verbal focus constructions.
Keywords: Focus marker, covert, subject DP,
object DP, (new) information focus.
DOI: 10.36349/sojolics.2026.v02i02.011
author/Esther U. Nzewi
journal/Sokoto JOLICS 2(2) | August 2026 |
