Two Types of Resumptive Pronouns in Swahili

Abstract

In this article, I demonstrate that Swahili distinguishes two types of resumptive pronouns: (a) lower Ā-movement copies and (b) base-generated bound pronouns. These two types of resumptive pronouns are morphologically distinct: the presence of (local) person features reflects a base-generated derivation, and the absence of person features reflects Ā-movement. Crucial evidence comes from local person pronominal clefts derived from islands (bound pronoun context) and parasitic gaps (movement copy context). Inspired by Van Urk 2018, I analyze this pattern using Landau’s (2006) theory of chain reduction in which only movement copies create chains and are then subject to an algorithm that deletes person features.