Jenneke van der Wal

Makhuwa non-subject relatives as participial modifiers

Unlike relative constructions in other familiar Bantu languages, Makhuwa does not have any special relative morphology; neither does it have a regular subject marker in the non-subject relative. Rather, the pronominal subject is expressed by a possessive pronoun. Because of the partly verbal and partly nominal properties of the relative, I propose to analyse it as a participial modifier. The prefix on the relative participle is analysed as a pronoun, which makes the participial modifier function like an independent adjunct. The possessive form of the pronominal subject is the result of the genitive case on the subject assigned by ptcpP, in the absence of a subject agreement projection. The paper furthermore shows that three alternative analyses (“normal” relative, connective strategy and DP relative) fall short in accounting for the data of the non-subject relative in Makhuwa.

Information structure, (inter)subjectivity and objectification

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version of the article is available from CUP at http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9769796&fileId=S0022226714000541

Movement from the Double Object Construction Is Not Fully Symmetrical

A movement asymmetry arises in some languages that are otherwise symmetrical for both A- and Ā-movement in the double object construction, including Norwegian, North-West British English, and a range of Bantu languages including Zulu and Lubukusu: a Theme object can be Ā-moved out of a Recipient (Goal) passive, but not vice versa. Our explanation of this asymmetry is based on phase theory— more specifically, a stricter version of the Phase Impenetrability Condition proposed by Chomsky (2001). The effect is that, in a Theme passive, a Recipient object destined for the C-domain gets trapped within the lower V-related phase by movement of the Theme. The same effect is observed in Italian, a language in which only Theme passives are possible. A similar effect is also found in some Bantu languages in connection with object marking/agreement: object agreement with the Theme in a Recipient passive is possible, but not vice versa. We show that this, too, can be understood within the theory that we articulate.

The long and short of verb alternations in Mauritian Creole and Bantu languages

Abstract Mauritian Creole displays an alternation between a short and a long form of the verb, which is reminiscent of the conjoint–disjoint alternation found in some eastern Bantu languages. Based on comparison with other French-based creoles and socio-historical evidence, we conclude that the Bantu substrate must have had an impact on the grammatical system of Mauritian Creole. We compare the synchronic properties of the alternations in Mauritian Creole and the most likely substrate Bantu languages of northern Mozambique and examine two possible scenarios for the influence of Bantu on the Mauritian verbal alternation, concluding that probably only the (syntactic) basics of the Bantu alternation motivated the persistence of the alternation in Mauritian Creole.