Abstract
The main purpose of this paper is to explore various agreement phenomena in Xhosa within the government-binding (GB) framework of generative grammar. The principles of the null subject parameter postulated in (Chomsky 1981), which accounts for the absence of an overt subject in phonetic representation, are shown to extend to the analysis of agreement phenomena in J.nosa which are characteristic of Bantu languages in general. In the proposed analyses the empty pronominal nonanaphor (pro) plays a crucial role. In particular it is argued that, apart from occurring as subject and object., pro can appear as the head of an NP, and as the complement of prepositions, the possessive morpheme ~, and the copulative.
Highlights
The main purpose of this paper is to explore various agreement phenomena in Xhosa within the government-binding (GB) framework of generative grammar
It is argued that the subjectival concord (SC) and the objectival concord or clitic (OC) are nominal morphemes irrespective of whether they cooccur with an NP subject and object respectively
The proposed account opposes the view that the SC and OC in Bantu languages are pronouns (i.e. NP categories) wherever these concords do not cooccur with an NP subject and object respectively
Summary
The main purpose of this paper is to explore various agreement phenomena in Xhosa within the government-binding (GB) framework of generative grammar. The proposed account opposes the view that the SC and OC in Bantu languages are pronouns (i.e. NP categories) wherever these concords do not cooccur with an NP subject and object respectively. Al though the reflexive clitic, being characteristically invariable, is not an agreement concord, it is in complementary distribution with the object clitic. This gives rise to the question whether a reflexive verb must be analysed 1n the same way as its counterpart with a nonreflexive (= object) clitic.
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