Subject nominalizations in Setswana

Abstract

Agent nominalizations of an object-bearing transitive predicate require of-insertion in many languages, including English (e.g., driver *(of ) a truck). Note that the same transitive predicate is not associated with of-insertion in the clausal syntax (e.g., drive (*of ) a truck). This work provides empirical evidence from Setswana (Bantu) and suggests that of-insertion is not necessary in Setswana agent nominalizations and subject nominalizations, more broadly construed. As long as the syntactic licensing requirements are satisfied, they need not resort to of-insertion. Additionally, I add weight to the claim that an external argument can be represented inside subject nominalizations (Baker & Vinokurova 2009). Adopting the Phrasal Layering approach (Alexiadou & Schäfer 2010, among others), I argue that parallels can be drawn between the nominal domain and the clausal domain in Setswana.