Resumo

PEREZ ALVAREZ, Bernardo E.. Lo que es and lo que viene siendo. Discursive distribution of a focus marking. Nueva rev. filol. hisp. [online]. 2021, vol.69, n.2, pp.777-795.  Epub 06-Set-2021. ISSN 2448-6558.  https://doi.org/10.24201/nrfh.v69i2.3755.

This paper describes the use of a special focus marker in Spanish, constructed with the relative lo que and the verb ser in two variants: lo que es and lo que viene siendo. With 106 examples obtained from the Corpus michoacano del español, the paper explains how this construction, deriving from cleft sentences, becomes a focus marker within a monoclausal structure. This usage is mainly attested in oral dialogical discourse in the public sphere, where there is a medium level of formality; it is not in colloquial discourse, nor in highly formal situations.

Palavras-chave : focus; cleft sentences; informative clefts; Mexican Spanish; discourse processing.