Auxiliary placement in Rangi : a dynamic syntax perspective
The Tanzanian Bantu language Rangi is unusual in that it exhibits a construction in which an infinitival verb form precedes an inflected auxiliary. This ordering of the infinitive with respect to the auxiliary is marked within the context of East African Bantu. It also contradicts Greenberg's (1963) proposed linguistic universal that Subject Verb Object languages exhibit auxiliary-infinitive order. Whilst the infinitive precedes the auxiliary in main declarative clauses, auxiliaryinfinitive order is found in negative, interrogative and cleft constructions, as well as in relative and subordinate clauses. This thesis examines infinitive-auxiliary order in Rangi, providing a detailed description of the structure and contexts in which the construction is used. Based on this, a formal analysis is developed from the perspective of Dynamic Syntax (Kempson et al. 2001; Cann et al. 2005b) - a framework which models the establishment of propositional structure by focusing on the dynamics of the parsing/production process in a time-linear manner. The infinitive-auxiliary order is captured by adopting an analysis in which infinitival verb forms are projected onto an unfixed predicate node. In contrast, auxiliaries project
Gibson, Hannah Cameron
Auxiliary placement in Rangi : a dynamic syntax perspective. The Tanzanian Bantu language Rangi is unusual in that it exhibits a construction in which an infinitival verb form precedes an inflected auxiliary. This ordering of the infinitive with respect to the auxiliary is marked within the context of East African Bantu. It also contradicts Greenberg's (1963) proposed linguistic universal that Subject Verb Object languages exhibit auxiliary-infinitive order. Whilst the infinitive precedes the auxiliary in main declarative clauses, auxiliaryinfinitive order is found in negative, interrogative and cleft constructions, as well as in relative and subordinate clauses. This thesis examines infinitive-auxiliary order in Rangi, providing a detailed description of the structure and contexts in which the construction is used. Based on this, a formal analysis is developed from the perspective of Dynamic Syntax (Kempson et al. 2001; Cann et al. 2005b) - a framework which models the establishment of propositional structure by focusing on the dynamics of the parsing/production process in a time-linear manner. The infinitive-auxiliary order is captured by adopting an analysis in which infinitival verb forms are projected onto an unfixed predicate node. In contrast, auxiliaries project
auxiliary placement dynamic_syntax perspective bantu_language unusual exhibit construction verb_form precedes auxiliary order infinitive respect auxiliary mark within_context east african bantu also contradict propose linguistic universal subject_verb object languages exhibit auxiliary infinitive order whilst infinitive precedes auxiliary main declarative clause order find negative interrogative cleft construction well relative subordinate_clause examines infinitive auxiliary order provide_detailed description structure context construction use based formal analysis develop perspective dynamic_syntax framework model establishment propositional structure focus dynamic parsing production_process time linear manner infinitive auxiliary order capture adopt analysis verb_form project onto predicate node contrast auxiliary project