Doctoral Degrees (African Languages)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (African Languages) by Subject "Argument alternation in Luganda"

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    The locative in Luganda: a syntax-interfaces approach
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-03) Kiyinikibi, Nkonge D; Visser, Marianna W.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation investigatesintransitive and transitive active, passive, neuter-passive (stative) verb constructions with locatives,including locative inversion constructions in Luganda, a Bantu language spoken in Uganda. Locatives and locative inversion have received considerable attention in research on Bantu languages, however limited research has been done on constructions containing locatives for Luganda adopting a syntax-interfaces approach, as is assumed for the current study. Thisstudy examines thepermissibility of locative inversion with intransitive and transitive verbs,and their associated interpretations in the constructions in which they occur, with respect to properties of argument structure, definiteness and specificity, informationstructure and event semantics. The interpretative properties exemplified in active, passive and neuter-passive (stative) verb constructions containing alocative, arethus correlated with their properties ofargument structure, i.e. thematicrole interpretation of DP constituents in various structural positions, such as the subject position andthe postverbal position, including locative inversion, as an argument alternationconstruction. The study furthermore examines the properties of argument structureexemplified in active passive and stative verb constructions as these relate to the analysis of event semantics, particularly thecausative/anti-causativedistinction, relevant to identifying aspectual verb class, i.e. situation type, asposited by Smith (1997).The study thus investigates how the interpretative properties of intransitive and transitive active, passive and stative verb constructions containing a locative, including locative inversion constructions, correlate with particular morphosyntacticproperties ofargument structure and the event structure these constructions exemplify.Taking into account these properties a small clause analysisisproposed for (some) locative inversion constructions that have an anti-causativeinterpretation Thus, the properties of argument structure and event semantics interpretation are invoked in providingevidence for positing an ergative verb syntax for (some) locative inversion constructions in terms of proposals by Hoekstra and Mulder (1990), and views of Pross (2020)concerning a dispositional ascription reading for the subject argumentofsome locative inversion constructions. The study thus explores the syntax interface of argumentstructure and event semantics (i.e. aspectual verb type), taking into accountthe properties of the event expressed in the sentencevariants with respect to the features [+/-Dynamic], (where causative semantics isgenerally, but not exclusively, associated with agentivity), [+/- Telic], and [+/-Durative] in determiningthe situation typeof various sentences as an activity, accomplishment, achievement event/situation, or an (habitual) state (according to proposals of Smith, 1997; Boneh and Doron, 2013; Choi and Fara, 2018). The study furthermore examines the semantic-pragmatic propertiesof definiteness and specificity of DP constituents in a range of intransitive and transitive active, passive, and neuter-passive (i.e. stative) verb construction variants. These properties are exploredin respect to the (non)-occurrence of the locative applicative suffix, the locative clitic,andthe (non-)occurrence of the pre-prefix of the noun in the postverbal DP in some sentence constructions,invoking Lyons’s (1999)notions of familiarity, identifiability, inclusiveness and uniqueness, in analysing the semantic-pragmatic factors of the speaker and hearer/ addressee knowledge in discourse context. The study explores, in addition, the interface of syntax and information structure in active, passive and neuter-passive sentence constructionscontaining alocativein examining the information structural status of various constituents, including DP, v/VP,and the clausalprojection, with regard to focus, topic, and contrast, invoking in particular, Repp’s (2016) three-fold distinction of explicitalternative, explicitalternative set, and implicit alternative, and views from Lambrecht (1994) and Krifka et al (1995) regarding the syntacticization ofinformation structural notions. The interpretative properties of constituents examined in the intransitive and transitive active, passive, and neuter-passive (stative) verb construction variants are invoked to posit a focusphrase projection on the left edge (periphery) of DP, v/VP complex, andthe clausal phrase, forparticular constituents. The issues addressed inthis examination, on the interface of information structure and morphosyntax, assumes, in particular, the cartography studies perspective of generative syntax concerning the postulation of discourse-related projections in the left-periphery of constituents, in positing structural representations, taking into account information structural properties in the respective sentence constructions. The Focus phrase, and the focus-relatedfeature specification of the Focus head, receiveparticularattentioninthisregard.