Locative orientation and locative arguments: A case study from Kinyarwanda

Previous work has investigated various syntactic and semantic properties of locative PPs, but a lesser-studied set of facts is so-called "locative orientation" – the variable locating of participants in the location described by the locative. In Kinyarwanda (Bantu; Rwanda), the presence/absence of the applicative morpheme -ir corresponds to an alternation in orientation: with the non-applied variant, the locative only necessarily describes the object's location; with the applied variant, all participants must be at the location described by the locative. I argue that Kinyarwanda locatives are neither prepositions (but rather noun class prefixes) nor adjuncts, and therefore cannot be analyzed as intersectional (adjunct) modifiers. On the view that locatives are (internal) arguments, I instead propose that locative applicatives in Kinyarwanda mark a paradigmatic relationship between applied and non-applied variants in which there is an increase in the number of entailments associated with an internal argument

The syntax and semantics of applicative morphology in Bantu

This dissertation concerns itself with the applicative morpheme, often analyzed as a valency-increasing morpheme which licenses an additional object to the argument structure of a verb. To date, applicativization has been analyzed as an operation that monotonically adds a new object to the argument structure, with little significant interaction with the verb to which the applicative attaches. However, there are two broad empirical issues with this view. First, there are instances in several languages where the applied variant of a particular verb licenses no additional object, contingent on the choice of verb. Second, the semantic role of the applied object is often conditioned by the meaning of the verb. In this dissertation I propose that applicativization serves fundamentally only to restrict the truth-conditional content of an internal argument of the verb, but that this constraint can be satisfied in various constrained ways on a verb class-by-verb class basis of which canonical object addition is just an option. I present evidence from locative applicatives in Kinyarwanda that the semantic role of the locative applied object, and whether it is even present, is conditioned by the meaning of the verb to which the applicative attaches. Furthermore, I show that the semantics of both verb class and the applicative are important in capturing instrumental applicative-causative syncretism and constraints on what thematic role the applied object of such an applicative will have contingent on the particular verb. Finally, I revisit the question of object symmetry, where I argue that contra the dominant perspective in the literature, there is no universal correlation between a particular syntactic structure or thematic role and any particular symmetry pattern. Instead, I propose that symmetry facts follow on a language by language basis from a variety of factors, such as verb meaning, thematic role, cast of the relevant nouns, and information structure. This semantically-driven framework in which a mélange of other factors conspire to determine symmetry provides a more comprehensive empirical account of the syntactic and semantic nature of applicative morphology in Bantu.Linguistic

When quantifiers agree in person: Anomalous agreement in Bantu

The distribution of person, number, and gender features across languages follows certain cross-linguistic tendencies; one such tendency is that person agreement is often reserved for agreement between a noun and verb. Certain Bantu languages, however, reject this tendency by allowing person agreement on post-nominal quantifiers. The current analysis accounts for this seemingly anomalous case of agreement by tying the historical evolution of agreement morphology with the observation that these seemingly anomalous quantifiers have certain structural parallels with verb phrases.published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

The Locative Applicative and the semantics of verb class in Kinyarwanda

This paper investigates the interaction of verb class and the locative applicative in Kinyarwanda (Bantu; Rwanda). Previous analyses of applicative morphology have focused almost exclusively on the syntax of the applied object, assuming that applicativization adds a new object with a transparent thematic role (e.g. Kisseberth & Abasheikh 1977; Baker 1988; Bresnan & Moshi 1990; Alsina & Mchombo 1993; McGinnis 2001; Jeong 2007; Jerro 2015, inter alia). I show instead that the interpretation of the applied object is contingent upon the meaning of the verb, with the applied object having a path, source, or goal semantic role with motion verbs from different classes. The general locative role discussed in previous work appears with non-motion verbs. I outline a typology of the interaction of the locative applicative with four different verb types and provide a semantic analysis of applicativization as a paradigmatic constraint on the lexical entailments of the applicativized variant of a particular verb

Person-Marked Quantifiers in Kinyarwanda

Person agreement is usually restricted to verbal categories. However, Bantu languages permit person agreement on certain adnomial quantifiers. We propose an account of the evolution of person agreement that constrains the cliticization of pronomials to specifier-head relationships. This diachronic view captures the presencr of person agreement in Bantu on adnomial quantifiers as well as verbs

The causative–instrumental syncretism

Causative and applicative morphemes have been central in work on the morphosyntax of argument structure. However, several genetically unrelated languages use a single, syncretic form for both functions, which complicates the traditional view that a causative adds a new subject and an applicative adds a new object. In this paper, I propose an analysis of a morphological syncretism found in the Bantu language Kinyarwanda where the morphological causative and instrumental applicative are both realized by the morpheme –ish. I argue for Kinyarwanda that both causation and the introduction of an instrument are analyzable as two outgrowths of the same semantic notion of introducing a new link into the causal chain described by the verb. The different causative and instrumental readings derive from underspecification of the position of the new link in the causal chain, although its placement is restricted via general constraints on possible event types as well as constraints on verb meaning and argument realization. This analysis provides an explanation for the presence of the causative–instrumental syncretism as well as provides insight into the interface between verb meaning and valency-changing morphology

Two types of states: A cross-linguistic study of change-of-state verb roots

Event structural theories decompose verb meanings into an event template and idiosyncratic root. Many mainstream theories assume a bifurcation in the kinds of entailments contributed by roots and templates, in particular that lexical entailments of change of an individual in change-of-state verbs are only introduced by templates, not roots. We argue against such theories by comparing Levin's (1993 non-deadjectival vs. deadjectival change-of-state verb roots (e.g. crack vs. red roots). A broad-scale typological study reveals that red-type roots tend to have simple (e.g. non-deverbal) stative forms, but crack-type roots do not. Semantic studies of Kakataibo and English show that terms built on crack-type roots always entail change, while terms based on red-type roots may not. We thus suggest that crack-type roots entail change-of-state, contra Bifurcation

Change-of-state Paradigms and the middle in Kinyarwanda

This paper investigates the derivational relationships among members of verbal paradigms in Kinyarwanda (Bantu JD.61; Rwanda) by pursuing two interrelated goals. First, I describe a variety of derivational strategies for marking transitive and intransitive variants in change-of-state verb paradigms. Second, I focus on the detransitivizing morpheme –ik which serves as one possible marking for intransitive members of these paradigms. Ultimately, I argue that this morpheme is a marker of middle voice, and the variety of readings which appear with this form can be subsumed under a single operation of argument suppression. Finally, I provide a discussion of reflexives and the apparent lack of a reflexive reading with –ik by arguing that this reading is blocked by either lexical reflexives or the reflexive prefix i–

African linguistics on the prairie: Selected papers from the 45th Annual Conference on African Linguistics

African Linguistics on the Prairie features select revised peer-reviewed papers from the 45th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, held at the University of Kansas. The articles in this volume reflect the enormous diversity of African languages, as they focus on languages from all of the major African language phyla.  The articles here also reflect the many different research perspectives that frame the work of linguists in the Association for Contemporary African Linguistics. The diversity of views presented in this volume are thus indicative of the vitality of current African linguistics research. The work presented in this volume represents both descriptive and theoretical methodologies and covers fields ranging from phonetics, phonology, morphology, typology, syntax, and semantics to sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, language acquisition, computational linguistics and beyond.  This broad scope and the quality of the articles contained within holds out the promise of continued advancement in linguistic research on African languages