SS: Preverbal domainsSpecial session: What is the grammar of preverbal domains in Bantu languages? Authors:
Fatima Hamlaoui (Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main) Koen Bostoen (Ghent University) Position paper: Bantu languages have been at the heart of the research on the interaction between syntax, prosody and information structure. By having yet a better idea of the variation found across Bantu languages, our goal is to deepen our understanding of the interaction of different grammatical components, both in individual languages and cross-linguistically. In SVO languages, considerable attention has been devoted to postverbal phenomena. For this thematic session, we welcome submissions related to the syntax, prosody, semantics and pragmatics of the “preverbal domains” in Bantu languages, i.e. issues of Object-Verb order/Immediately Before the Verb position, subject(s) and left-periphery of the clause. Papers addressing (but not limited to) the following topics are particularly welcome:
Experimental, corpus-based, descriptive, comparative, typological and theoretical studies are welcome. Selected references: Abels, K. & Muriungi, P. 2006. The focus particle in Kîîtharaka. In A. Schwarz & I. Fiedler (eds.), Papers on information structure in African languages. ZASPiL 42, 1-20. Berlin: ZAS.Baker, M. 2003. Agreement, dislocation, and partial configurationality. In A. Carnie, H. Harley & M. A. Willie (eds.), Formal approaches to function in grammar: In honor of Eloise Jelinek. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Bostoen, K. & Mundeke, L. 2011. Passiveness and inversion in Mbuun (Bantu B87, DRC). Studies in Language 35(1). 72-111. Bresnan, J. & Mchombo, S. 1987. Topic, pronoun and agreement in Chichewa. Language 63(4). 741-782. Bresnan, J. & Kanerva, J. 1989. Locative inversion in Chichewa. Linguistic Inquiry 20. 1-50. Cheng, L. & Downing, L. 2009. Where's the Topic in Zulu? In H. de Hoop & G. van Bergen (eds.), The Linguistic Review 26. 207-238. Demuth, K. & Harford, C. 1999. Verb raising and subject inversion in comparative Bantu. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 18. 1-19. Downing, L. 2011. The prosody of 'dislocation' in selected Bantu languages. In L. Buell, K. Riedel & J. van der Wal (eds.), Movement and word order in Bantu, Lingua 121(5). 772-786. Güldemann, T. 2007. Preverbal objects and information structure in Benue-Congo. In E. O. Aboh, K. Hartmann & M. Zimmermann (eds.), Focus strategies in African languages: The interaction of focus and grammar in Niger-Congo and Afro-Asiatic, 83-111. Trends in Linguistics – Studies and Monographs 191. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Hamlaoui, F. & Makasso, E.-M. 2011. Wh-questions and prosodic structuring in Bàsàa. In L. Downing (ed.), Questions in Bantu languages: prosodies and positions. ZASPiL 55. Berlin: ZAS. Hamlaoui, F. & Makasso, E.-M. In prep. On focus-marking and the unavailability of inversion structures in the Bantu language Basaa (A43). Mous, M. 1997. The position of the object in Tunen. In R.-M. Déchaine & V. Manfredi (eds.), Object positions in Benue-Kwa, 123-137. Den Haag: Holland Academic Graphics. Morimoto, Y. 2006. Agreement properties and word order in comparative Bantu. In L. Downing, S. Zerbian & L. Marten (eds.), Papers in Bantu grammar and description. ZASPiL 43. Berlin: ZAS. Thwala, N. 2006. On the subject-predicate relation and subject agreement in SiSwati. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 24(3). 331-359. Watters, J. 1979. Focus in Aghem: A study of its formal correlates and typology. In L. Hyman (ed.), Aghem grammatical structure, 137-197. University of Southern California. Zeller, J. 2009. On clitic left dislocation in Zulu. In S. Ermisch (ed.), Focus and Topic in African languages, 131-156. Frankfurt African Studies Bulletin 18 Year 2006. Koeln: Ruediger Koeppe Verlag. Zerbian, S. 2006. Expression of information structure in the Bantu language Northern Sotho. ZASPiL 45. Berlin: ZAS. |