Focus clefts across dialects?

Abstract It is almost univocally claimed that in Standard Greek ex situ focusing involves syntactic focus movement to a Focus position below C, while Cypriot Greek is claimed to be the only Greek dialect with genuine focus clefts. The grammaticality/acceptability of focus clefts in Standard Greek is not unequivocal and depends on the type of clefted constituent. In this study we present results from a questionnaire survey in which we test for the acceptability of it-clefts in Standard and Cypriot Greek. Results indicate that speakers of Standard Greek show a significant preference for clefted third person subjects, while the rates of acceptance of clefted first and second person subjects improves if be displays subject agreement; rates of acceptance also improve if the copula displays tense features matching the tense of the verb in the pu clause. Such differences do not hold for speakers of Cypriot Greek, who accept clefts across the board. The results suggest that Cypriot Greek has bona fide it-clefts, while similar structures in Standard Greek are most likely equative constructions derived from pseudo-clefts.