Bantu class prefixes: Towards a cross-categorial account
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Gloria Cocchi
Abstract
Bantu verbal forms are notoriously complex from a morphological point of view, in that they consist of several morphemes, some of which are obligatorily present, and others optionally. Nominal forms, on the contrary, look much simpler and less structured. Following a long line of research which started from Abney (1987), the aim of the present paper is to devise a strict parallelism between the structure of Bantu nouns and verbs, which is crucially based on the important role played by class prefixes. Moreover, in line with Manzini and Savoia’s recent work (e.g. 2008, 2011), I will argue that the same set of inflectional projections are to be assumed at both syntactic and morphological levels; indeed Bantu languages, which feature a very rich morphology, are the perfect candidates to show how morphology mirrors syntax. Finally, I will briefly investigate adjectives and (some) prepositions, as also these categories - even the latter - present functional projections which involve agreement.
Abstract
Bantu verbal forms are notoriously complex from a morphological point of view, in that they consist of several morphemes, some of which are obligatorily present, and others optionally. Nominal forms, on the contrary, look much simpler and less structured. Following a long line of research which started from Abney (1987), the aim of the present paper is to devise a strict parallelism between the structure of Bantu nouns and verbs, which is crucially based on the important role played by class prefixes. Moreover, in line with Manzini and Savoia’s recent work (e.g. 2008, 2011), I will argue that the same set of inflectional projections are to be assumed at both syntactic and morphological levels; indeed Bantu languages, which feature a very rich morphology, are the perfect candidates to show how morphology mirrors syntax. Finally, I will briefly investigate adjectives and (some) prepositions, as also these categories - even the latter - present functional projections which involve agreement.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
- A labelling solution to a curious EPP effect 7
- The question of overgeneration in Element Theory 19
- Linguistic and pragmatic procedures in the political discourse 29
- Why doubling discourse particles? 47
- (Reflexive) Si as a route to passive in Italian 73
- Irregular verbal morphology and locality 87
- Multiple agreement in Southern Italian dialects 125
- Relabeling participial constructions 149
- Puzzles about phases 163
- On the double-headed analysis of “Headless” relative clauses 169
- Bantu class prefixes: Towards a cross-categorial account 197
- Differential object marking and the structure of transitive clauses 217
- Countability and the /s/ morpheme in English 231
- (Im)proper prepositions in (Old and Modern) Italian 249
- Not even a crumb of negation: on mica in Old Italian 273
- From brain noise to syntactic structures: A formal proposal within the oscillatory rhythms perspective 293
- When seem wants to control 317
- Some thoughts on one and two and other numerals 335
- Stress shift under cliticization in the Sardinian transitional area 357
- The causative construction in the dialects of southern Italy and the phonologysyntax interface 371
- Lexical parametrization and early subjects in L1 Italian 401
- Inflected infinitives in Portuguese 423
- Some notes on the Sardinian complementizer systems 439
- Structural source of person split 453
- The non-existence of sub-lexical scope 501
- An emergentist view on functional classes 531
- The (information) structure of existentials 561
- Che and weak islands 599
- Complement clauses: Case and argumenthood 609
- The internal structure of Nguni nominal class prefixes 633
- Expletives, locatives, and subject doubling 661
- Arbitrary control instead of obligatory control in temporal adjuncts in Child Grammar: An ATTRACT analysis 691
- Language Index 717
- Subject Index 719
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
- A labelling solution to a curious EPP effect 7
- The question of overgeneration in Element Theory 19
- Linguistic and pragmatic procedures in the political discourse 29
- Why doubling discourse particles? 47
- (Reflexive) Si as a route to passive in Italian 73
- Irregular verbal morphology and locality 87
- Multiple agreement in Southern Italian dialects 125
- Relabeling participial constructions 149
- Puzzles about phases 163
- On the double-headed analysis of “Headless” relative clauses 169
- Bantu class prefixes: Towards a cross-categorial account 197
- Differential object marking and the structure of transitive clauses 217
- Countability and the /s/ morpheme in English 231
- (Im)proper prepositions in (Old and Modern) Italian 249
- Not even a crumb of negation: on mica in Old Italian 273
- From brain noise to syntactic structures: A formal proposal within the oscillatory rhythms perspective 293
- When seem wants to control 317
- Some thoughts on one and two and other numerals 335
- Stress shift under cliticization in the Sardinian transitional area 357
- The causative construction in the dialects of southern Italy and the phonologysyntax interface 371
- Lexical parametrization and early subjects in L1 Italian 401
- Inflected infinitives in Portuguese 423
- Some notes on the Sardinian complementizer systems 439
- Structural source of person split 453
- The non-existence of sub-lexical scope 501
- An emergentist view on functional classes 531
- The (information) structure of existentials 561
- Che and weak islands 599
- Complement clauses: Case and argumenthood 609
- The internal structure of Nguni nominal class prefixes 633
- Expletives, locatives, and subject doubling 661
- Arbitrary control instead of obligatory control in temporal adjuncts in Child Grammar: An ATTRACT analysis 691
- Language Index 717
- Subject Index 719
