Chapter 3. Mauritian root modals are raising verbs
-
Emilia Melara
Abstract
In Mauritian Creole, the forms kapav and bizin are interpreted as epistemic or root modals depending on where they appear. They express root modality before the verb and epistemic modality preceding TMA markers. I argue that Mauritian Creole root modals are raising verbs that select VoiceP. I show that, like raising verbs, root modals: (1) are bi-clausal, (2) permit expletive subjects, and (3) can have wide/narrow scope over quantified subjects. I further argue that epistemic bizin and kapav are not verbs at all by showing they do not share the properties illustrated of their root counterparts. I conclude that bizin and kapav are vocabulary items that spell out distinct syntactic heads; their different modal flavours derive from their scopal relations.
Abstract
In Mauritian Creole, the forms kapav and bizin are interpreted as epistemic or root modals depending on where they appear. They express root modality before the verb and epistemic modality preceding TMA markers. I argue that Mauritian Creole root modals are raising verbs that select VoiceP. I show that, like raising verbs, root modals: (1) are bi-clausal, (2) permit expletive subjects, and (3) can have wide/narrow scope over quantified subjects. I further argue that epistemic bizin and kapav are not verbs at all by showing they do not share the properties illustrated of their root counterparts. I conclude that bizin and kapav are vocabulary items that spell out distinct syntactic heads; their different modal flavours derive from their scopal relations.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1. Descriptive and historical perspectives
- Chapter 1. Cognates of French articles in contemporary Reunion Creole 18
- Chapter 2. Evidence of topic-prominence in Mauritian Creole 49
- Chapter 3. Mauritian root modals are raising verbs 96
- Chapter 4. Gaps, resumptive pronouns and the complementizer ki in Mauritian Creole relative clauses 119
- Chapter 5. Indo-Aryan influence in Mauritian Creole 135
-
Part 2. Sociolinguistic perspectives
- Chapter 6. Attitudes of Mauritian school teachers towards Kreol in education 186
- Chapter 7. Towards the construction of technical vocabulary in Kreol Morisien 207
- Chapter 8. Language contact in writing 229
- Chapter 9. Overview of the economic, anthropological, sociocultural and sociolinguistic situation in Reunion 260
- Chapter 10. (Re)defining the classification of Mauritian French varieties through a phonemic/phonetic approach 279
- Index 325
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1. Descriptive and historical perspectives
- Chapter 1. Cognates of French articles in contemporary Reunion Creole 18
- Chapter 2. Evidence of topic-prominence in Mauritian Creole 49
- Chapter 3. Mauritian root modals are raising verbs 96
- Chapter 4. Gaps, resumptive pronouns and the complementizer ki in Mauritian Creole relative clauses 119
- Chapter 5. Indo-Aryan influence in Mauritian Creole 135
-
Part 2. Sociolinguistic perspectives
- Chapter 6. Attitudes of Mauritian school teachers towards Kreol in education 186
- Chapter 7. Towards the construction of technical vocabulary in Kreol Morisien 207
- Chapter 8. Language contact in writing 229
- Chapter 9. Overview of the economic, anthropological, sociocultural and sociolinguistic situation in Reunion 260
- Chapter 10. (Re)defining the classification of Mauritian French varieties through a phonemic/phonetic approach 279
- Index 325
