Clefts and Wh-Question Formation in Cypriot Greek

Abstract

This thesis explores clefts in Cypriot Greek in order to understand why wh-interrogative clefts are possible in Cypriot Greek, but not in Standard Greek. This is done by giving a detailed description of the formal properties of declarative and wh-interrogative clefts in Cypriot Greek. It will be proposed that in both Standard Greek and Cypriot Greek, there is a FocP right above VP, which in Cypriot Greek can check both Identificational and Information Focus, while in Standard Greek it can only check the latter. Since clefts are a focusing strategy (they express Identificational Focus), it will be argued that this is what makes Cypriot Greek different from Standard Greek.