VSO word order in Malagasy imperatives
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Eric Potsdam
Abstract
This paper accounts for an unusual VSO word order found in Malagasy imperative clauses to the exclusion of indicative clauses. It proposes that, what appears to be a subject in immediately post-verbal position is not a subject at all; rather, it is a vocative. Semantic and morphological characteristics of Malagasy vocatives support this claim. The paper argues against two alternative analyses: a scrambling analysis that derives VSO order from the canonical VOS via rightward scrambling, and a predicate-internal subject analysis that derives the VSO order by leaving the subject in its base position. I show that both alternatives are empirically and conceptually inferior to the vocative account proposed in the present work.
Abstract
This paper accounts for an unusual VSO word order found in Malagasy imperative clauses to the exclusion of indicative clauses. It proposes that, what appears to be a subject in immediately post-verbal position is not a subject at all; rather, it is a vocative. Semantic and morphological characteristics of Malagasy vocatives support this claim. The paper argues against two alternative analyses: a scrambling analysis that derives VSO order from the canonical VOS via rightward scrambling, and a predicate-internal subject analysis that derives the VSO order by leaving the subject in its base position. I show that both alternatives are empirically and conceptually inferior to the vocative account proposed in the present work.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
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Phonetics/Phonology/Morphology
- The role of larynx height in the Javanese tense ~ lax stop contrast 7
- Reduplication in Tanjung Raden Malay 25
- Discontiguous reduplication in a local variety of Malay 45
- Phonological evidence for the structure of Javanese compounds 65
- Intonation, information structure and the derivation of inverse VO languages 81
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Syntax
- The case of possessors and ‘subjects’ 103
- Genitive relative constructions and agent incorporation in Tongan 117
- Possession syntax in Unua DPs 141
- Seediq adverbial verbs 163
- On the syntax of Formosan adverbial verb constructions 183
- Specification and inversion 213
- VSO word order in Malagasy imperatives 231
- A unified analysis of Niuean Aki 249
- Deriving inverse order 271
- The impersonal construction in Tagalog 297
- Anaphora in traditional Jambi Malay 327
- On parameters of agreement in Austronesian languages 345
- Index 375
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
-
Phonetics/Phonology/Morphology
- The role of larynx height in the Javanese tense ~ lax stop contrast 7
- Reduplication in Tanjung Raden Malay 25
- Discontiguous reduplication in a local variety of Malay 45
- Phonological evidence for the structure of Javanese compounds 65
- Intonation, information structure and the derivation of inverse VO languages 81
-
Syntax
- The case of possessors and ‘subjects’ 103
- Genitive relative constructions and agent incorporation in Tongan 117
- Possession syntax in Unua DPs 141
- Seediq adverbial verbs 163
- On the syntax of Formosan adverbial verb constructions 183
- Specification and inversion 213
- VSO word order in Malagasy imperatives 231
- A unified analysis of Niuean Aki 249
- Deriving inverse order 271
- The impersonal construction in Tagalog 297
- Anaphora in traditional Jambi Malay 327
- On parameters of agreement in Austronesian languages 345
- Index 375
