While most Niger-Congo languages have SVO word order, a few outliers display S(Aux)OV(X) patterns, either in restricted TAM contexts or across the board. These OV languages include a handful of... Show moreWhile most Niger-Congo languages have SVO word order, a few outliers display S(Aux)OV(X) patterns, either in restricted TAM contexts or across the board. These OV languages include a handful of Guthrie zone A40 languages of Cameroon (Tunen, Nyokon), Bantoid languages (Tikar), and broader Niger-Congo (e.g. Gur and Kru languages). For the A40 languages, Nyokon ([nvo]/A45, Cameroon) has VO order in most tenses but OV order in the past tense, while its neighbour Tunen ([tvu]/A44, Cameroon) has OV consistently. This paper presents new data on Tunen and Nyokon, using controlled elicitation to test the accuracy of previous TAM and information structure (IS)-based accounts. I provide evidence that OV is the most pragmatically-neutral word order in Tunen, consistent across TAM contexts. For Nyokon, OV versus VO order is shown to be dependent on the TAM pattern and not directly conditioned by IS. I show that both languages otherwise consistently pattern as head-initial in their syntax. Based on these results, I reflect on the potential grammaticalisation source(s) of their OV syntax. Finally, I note that Tikar appears to pattern similarly to Nyokon in having a TAM-based OV/VO system. Show less
This article addresses some issues related to Voice and little v. It does so by discussing and analyzing the variation that exists in the Chinese language family with respect to object placement ... Show moreThis article addresses some issues related to Voice and little v. It does so by discussing and analyzing the variation that exists in the Chinese language family with respect to object placement (VO versus OV). It turns out that this variation can be accounted for straightforwardly as long as we assume, first, that Voice and v are sometimes split and sometimes bundled, even within one language, and, second, that Voice does not always select vP; it can also select VP. Show less
This paper presents results of a corpus study on the South-Cushitic language Gorwaa which investigated the ‘enigmatic’ -oo/-(h)ee suffix (Mous & Qorro 2010:47, Harvey 2018). Various contexts in... Show moreThis paper presents results of a corpus study on the South-Cushitic language Gorwaa which investigated the ‘enigmatic’ -oo/-(h)ee suffix (Mous & Qorro 2010:47, Harvey 2018). Various contexts in which this nominal suffix occurs are identified, including negation, polar questions, universal quantification, adverbials, the object of comparison, and locatives. I characterise these as non-specific contexts and frame-setting topics. I compare these contexts to those in which the augment (nominal pre-prefix) is dropped in Bantu languages and, based on the empirical similarities, I discuss whether analyses of the Bantu augment can account for the Gorwaa cases. One analysis proposes that the suffix marks (non-)specificity, which I show is not fully satisfactory. Instead, I propose that what truly conditions the appearance of the suffix is the syntactic position of the nominal with respect to the verb phrase. Show less
The dissertation investigates the interaction of various kinds of phonologically weak items (clitics) with different types of elliptical operations (mainly VP-ellipsis and sluicing). The main focus... Show moreThe dissertation investigates the interaction of various kinds of phonologically weak items (clitics) with different types of elliptical operations (mainly VP-ellipsis and sluicing). The main focus of the work is on what this interaction can reveal about the timing of ellipsis and cliticization.The first part of the dissertation investigates the interaction of VP-ellipsis and second position cliticization in Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian and reveals crucial differences between the two languages in this respect: it is argued that second position cliticization is phonological in nature in the former and syntactic in the latter. The second part focuses on preposition omission under sluicing in Russian. It is argued that the operation of preposition omission is sensitive to the prosodic organization of the prepositional phrase. This dissertation is of relevance to those interested in the nature of cliticization, the timing of ellipsis and prosodic restrictions on elliptical operations. Show less
Tunen is a Bantu (Niger-Congo) language spoken in Cameroon in the Centre and Littoral provinces, with Guthrie classification A44 (Maho 2003, 2009). The language is typologically unusual in... Show moreTunen is a Bantu (Niger-Congo) language spoken in Cameroon in the Centre and Littoral provinces, with Guthrie classification A44 (Maho 2003, 2009). The language is typologically unusual in displaying SOV base word order, i.e. a head-final verb phrase (O V), while elsewhere being head initial (prepositions, Dem-N order). Dugast (1971) and Mous (1997) note that cardinal numerals appear postnominally (N NUM), with the exception of the form -mɔt̀ ɛ́ ‘one’, which can also appear before the noun in the plural. In this article, I investigate this puzzling prenominal case of -mɔt̀ ɛ́ and argue based on new data that it is not synchronically a numeral and has in fact grammaticalised to function as an indefinite determiner marking epistemic specificity. I use controlled elicitation to show semantic tests to support this and present syntactic arguments that prenominal -mɔt̀ ɛ́ appears in the position of a determiner rather than a numeral. I then investigate the marker’s likely grammaticalisation over time by considering the “seemingly universal” grammaticalisation path of numeral ‘one’ to (specific) indefinite markers that has been proposed in the typological literature (Givón 1981: 35); Heine (1995, 1997). I test the predictions of such an account by means of a corpus study of 61 folk tales (contes) published in Dugast (1975), and conclude by a brief survey of related Cameroonian languages. Show less
This paper offers a questionnaire for a typological study of causatives and causative constructions. It can also be used for a typologically-based description of causatives in individual languages.
