SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF LONDON THE INFL CONSTITUENT IN THE MUNDANI LANGUAGE by Elizabeth Ann Magba A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May, 1995 1 ProQuest Number: 10731691 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10731691 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT The thesis is a syntactic study of the Inflectional constituent (INFL) in Mundani, a Grassfields Bantu language of the Mbam-Nkam subgroup, spoken in the S.W. Province of the Republic of Cameroon. Chapter 1 b r ie f ly introduces the Mundani language and people; chapter 2 summarizes relevant aspects of the modular system of Universal Grammar known as Government and Binding (GB) theory that forms the basic theoretical framework of the study. In order to place the INFL constituent within its wider s y n ta c tic context, chapters 3 and 4 o u tlin e Mundani clause structure, including interrogatives, negation, and interesting deviations from basic SVO word order in Topic and Focus construction s. The INFL constituent itself is introduced in chapter 5, with two possibilities for syntactic analysis: (i) as a single split constituent; (ii) as two separate syntactic categories: TENSE projecting to TP, and AGR projecting to AgrP. The evidence favours the second approach, which is adopted as a basis for discussion. Chapters 6 and 7 detail the content and syntactic properties of the category TENSE, including the licensing of nodes in complex TENSE constituents composed of several elements; the content and syntax of the category AGR are dealt with in chapters 8 and 9. In the case of AGR, two d is tin c t approaches can be adopted: one based on a GB account of Switch Reference (SR) languages; the other in terms of Control Theory. Although the latter offers a more satisfactory account ofAGR in this instance, the fa c t th a t both approaches can be applied to the Mundani data provides insights into the parallelisms between SR and Control: notably, the binding relationships between two INFL components, the links existing between INFL, its Spec (subject) position and COMP, and the obligatory subject control resulting from these relationships. The concluding chapter 10 summarizes evidence to show that INFL is not a single functional category, but rather a complex of different kinds of functional category, each of which forms the head X of its own XP projection. Two problems remain partially unresolved. Firstly, there are difficulties in accounting satisfactorily for the “spread" of imperfective marking across "complex TENSE" and a following main verb. Secondly, the proposed analysis of Mundani INFL is an obstacle to a coherent account of realis/irrealis modal marking, which falls under either TENSE or AGR across three different construction types. 2 CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS ORTHOGRAPHY ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS MAP - GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION OF THE MUNDANI AREA CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION 1.1 Geographical Area 1.2 The People 1.3 Social and Economic L ife 1.4 Language 1.5 Existing Studies 1.6 The Present Study CHAPTER 2 - THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 2.1 Universal Grammar: Principles and Parameters 2.2 Lexical Information in Syntax 2.2.1 Predicates and Argument Structure 2.2.2 Thematic Roles and the Theta Criterion 2.2.3 The Projection and Extended Projection Principles 2.2.4 Direct and Indirect Theta Marking 2.3 Phrase Structure and X-bar Theory 2.3.1 Heads, S p e c ifie rs and Complements 2.3.2 Projections of Functional Heads 2.4 Case Theory 2.4.1 Morphological and Abstract Case 2.4.2 Structural Conditions on Case Assignment 2.4.3 The Case F i l t e r and Exceptional Case Marking 2.4.4 Structural and Inherent Case 2.4.5 Visibility and Chains 2.5 Government and Binding 2.5.1 Movement 3 2.5.2 Government 2.5.3 Binding Theory 2.5.4 Bounding Theory and the Empty Category Principle 2.5.5 B a rrie rs 2.6 Levels of Representation CHAPTER 3 - CLAUSE STRUCTURE (1 ) 3.0 Introduction 3.1 Basic Clause Structure 3.1.1 Word (Constituent) Order 3.1.2 Double Objects 3.1.3 Headedness 3.1.4 COMP 3.2 Interrogatives 3.2.1 Direct vs. Indirect Questions 3.2.2 Polar Questions 3.2.3 Wh-questions 3.2.4 Echo, Alternative and Tag Questions 3.3 Negation 3.3.1 Constituent Negation 3.3.2 Clause (Sentential) Negation 3.3.2.1 NEG Forms 3.3.2.2 Negative Clause Structure 3.3.2.3 Double Negatives 3.3.2.4 Negative Obiigationals CHAPTER 4 - CLAUSE STRUCTURE (2 ) 4.0 Introduction 4.1 Embedded Clauses 4.1.1 Markers of Embedded Clauses 4.1.1.1 Complementizers and Conjunctions 4.1.1.2 Tone P attern on the Subject Pronominal Complex 4.1.1.3 The Subordinator la 4.1.2 Non-Finite Embedded Clauses 4.1.2.1 Consecutivized Clauses 4.1.2.2 N o n -F in ite Complement Clauses 4 4.1.2.3 Participial Relative Clauses 4.1.3 t6, ka, k& 4.2 Topic and Focus 4.2.1 Topicalisation 4.2.1.1 Extraction to Clause-Initial Position 4.2.1.2 Identifying the TOPIC Position 4.2.1.3 Constraints on Topicalisation 4.2.2 Focus 4.2.2.1 Focus as a Kind o f Passive? 4.2.2.2 Id e n tify in g the Focus Position 4.2.3 Cleft and Pseudo-Cleft Constructions CHAPTER 5 - THE CATEGORY INFL: AN OVERVIEW 5.1 Finite INFL 5.2 Non-Finite INFL 5.3 Approaches to the syntactic analysis of INFL CHAPTER 6 - THE CATEGORY TENSE: CONTENT 6.0 Introduction 6.1 Overview of Tense-Aspect Marking 6.1.1 The Tenses 6.1.2 The Aspects 6.1.2.1 P e rfe c tiv e and Im p erfective 6.1.2.2 Progressive 6.1.2.3 Incompletive 6.2 Modal Marking 6.2.1 Obii gational 6.2.2 Modal Categories in Conditional Clauses 6.2.2.1 Hypothetical 6.2.2.2 Concessive 6.2.2.3 Counterfactual 6.3 Negation 6.4 Summary of Tense-Aspect-Modal and Negative Marking 6.5 Complex Tense 6.5.1 Linear Ordering 6.5.2 Co-occurrence Restrictions 5 6.5.2.1 Progressive n& 6.5.2.2 Combinations of two Tense Markers 6.5.2.3 Combinations of three Tense Markers 6.6 Summary CHAPTER 7 - THE CATEGORY TENSE - MORPHOSYNTACTIC AND SYNTACTIC PROPERTIES 7.0 Introduction 7.1 Some Morphosyntactic Properties of Elements under TENSE 7 1 1 Evidence for Cliticization 7 1 1 . 1 Stress Placement 7 1 1 .2 Vowel A ssim ilatio n 7 1 1 .3 Meeussen’s Rule of High Tone Lowering 7 1 1 .4 Consonant Deletion 7 1 1 .5 Summary 7 1 2 Auxiliary Tense-Aspect Markers 7 1 2.1 Verb-like Properties of Auxiliaries 7 1 2.2 A u x ilia rie s as Function Words 7 1 2,3 Negative Markers: a Subtype of Auxiliary 7 2 A Preliminary Syntactic Analysis of Elements under TENSE 3 The Relationships between Tense, Aspect and Modal Marki ng 3.1 The Case fo r a U nitary Approach to TAM Elements 3.2 The Case for a Separate Aspectual Constituent 4 The Problem of Im p erfective Marking 4.1 Towards an Analysis of Imperfective Marking 4.2 A Comparison of Imperfective, Hypothetical and General Future Marking 4.2.1 The Im p erfe ctive S u ffix 4.2.2 The Hypothetical Suffix 4.2.3 The General Future Marker 5 Summary 6 CHAPTER 8 - THE CATEGORY AGR: CONTENT AND DISTRIBUTION 8.0 Introduction 8.1 Realis/Irrealis Morphology 8.2 Sequences of Verbal Elements 8.2.1 The Consecutive Construction (CC) 8.2.2 The S e ria l Verb Construction (SVC) 8.2.3 Sequences of Auxiliary Verbs 8.3 The Subject P osition 8.3.1 Subjects and R/IR Marking 8.3.2 Subjects and the Prefix m6- 8.4 Identifying the Linked Constituents 8.4.1 VP Expansion 8.4.2 The INFL C onstituen t 8.4.3 Conjunctions 8.5 The Relation between the Linked Constituents: Coordination or Subordination? 8.5.1 TAM/NEG Marking 8.5.2 Dependent vs. Independent Verb Forms 8.5.3 Adverbial Frontshifting 8.5.4 NP Extraction 8.5.5 Summary CHAPTER 9 - THE CATEGORY AGR: SYNTAX 9.0 Introduction 9.1 A Switch Reference Analysis 9.1.1 Switch Reference Systems 9.1.2 F in e r ’ s A nalysis applied to the Mundani CC 9.1.3 Advantages of an SR Analysis 9.1.4 Disadvantages of an SR Analysis 9.2 A Control Analysis 9.2.1 Distribution of PRO in English 9.2.2 Referential Possibilities of PRO in English 9.2.3 Some Theories of Control 9.2.4 Control in the Mundani CC 9.2.4.1 The Null Element in Subject Position: PRO or pro? 7 9.2.4.2 Two Possible Analyses of INFL 9.2.4.3 B o rer’ s A nalysis applied to Mundani 9.3 A Comparison between SR and Control Accounts 9.3.1 Base-generation of R/IR Marking under INFL 9.3.2 The COMP/INFL/AGR C onstituent Abandoned 9.3.3 Complementizers and Conjunctions 9.3.4 Control Effects in Non-subject Positions 9.3.5 Distribution of Null and Non-null Subjects 9.4 R/IR Modal Marking in Different Syntactic Confi gurations 9.4.1 The Auxiliary Series 9.4.2 The Serial Verb Construction (SVC) 9.5 Summary CHAPTER 10 - "INFL": A COMPLEX OF DIFFERENT FUNCTIONAL CATEGORIES NOTES APPENDIX I - Noun Class System APPENDIX I I - The Verb Stem BIBLIOGRAPHY 8 ABBREVIATIONS ACC accusative case IP inflectional Adv adverbi al phrase AdvP adverbial phrase IR i r r e a li s AM associative marker LOC lo c a tiv e AsP aspectual phrase LOG logophori c ATB across the board NARR n a rra ti ve c1,c2.