UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Subject Positions in Marshallese A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics by Heather Willson 2008 The dissertation of Heather Willson is approved. Alessandro Duranti Mark Hale Timothy Stowell Pamela Munro Anoop Mahajan, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2008 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................ ix Chapter 1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction to the Marshallese language ........................................................... 2 1.2 A note on speakers .............................................................................................. 4 1.3 Micronesian languages........................................................................................ 5 1.4 Previous works on Marshallese .......................................................................... 7 1.5 Outline of the dissertation ................................................................................... 8 Chapter 2. Grammatical Sketch of Marshallese ......................................................... 10 2.1 Marshallese phoneme inventory and orthography ............................................ 10 2.1.1 Consonants ................................................................................................ 10 2.1.2 Vowels ...................................................................................................... 11 2.1.3 Orthography .............................................................................................. 13 2.2 Morphology....................................................................................................... 15 2.2.1 Nouns ........................................................................................................ 15 2.2.2 Determiners ............................................................................................... 16 2.2.3 Pronouns ................................................................................................... 18 2.2.4 Subject agreement clitics .......................................................................... 21 2.2.5 Adjectives ................................................................................................. 25 2.2.6 Verbal morphology ................................................................................... 26 2.2.6.1 The causative prefix ka- ........................................................................ 26 2.2.6.2 The object marking suffix ..................................................................... 31 2.2.6.3 Directionals ........................................................................................... 35 2.2.6.4 The derivation of transitive and intransitive verbs ............................... 38 2.2.6.4.1 Underlyingly intransitive with no transitive counterpart ................ 39 2.2.6.4.2 Underlyingly transitives with no intransitive counterpart .............. 40 2.2.6.4.3 Suppletive verbs .............................................................................. 41 2.2.6.4.4 Underlyingly intransitive - trans form derived from the intrans ..... 42 2.2.6.4.5 Underlyingly transitive - intrans form derived from the trans ........ 43 2.2.6.4.6 Verbs with identical transitive and intransitive forms .................... 45 2.2.6.4.7 Intransitive verbs with objects ........................................................ 46 2.2.6.5 Deriving verbs from nouns ................................................................... 48 2.2.7 Tense, aspect, modality and adverbs......................................................... 49 2.3 Syntax ............................................................................................................... 57 2.3.1 Determiner phrases ................................................................................... 57 iii 2.3.1.1 Determiners and quantifiers .................................................................. 57 2.3.1.2 Adjectives ............................................................................................. 58 2.3.1.3 Relative Clauses .................................................................................... 59 2.3.1.4 Possessives ............................................................................................ 62 2.3.1.4.1 Inalienable possession ..................................................................... 64 2.3.1.4.2 Alienable possession ....................................................................... 64 2.3.2 Prepositional phrases ................................................................................ 67 2.3.3 IP level syntax ........................................................................................... 68 2.3.3.1 Verbless sentences ................................................................................ 69 2.3.3.2 Sentences with overt verbs.................................................................... 71 2.3.4 CP level syntax ......................................................................................... 71 2.3.4.1 Complementation .................................................................................. 71 2.3.4.2 Questions............................................................................................... 73 2.3.4.2.1 Yes/no questions ............................................................................. 73 2.3.4.2.2 Embedded questions ....................................................................... 76 2.3.4.2.3 Wh- questions ................................................................................. 78 2.3.4.2.3.1 Class 1 ...................................................................................... 78 2.3.4.2.3.2 Class 2 ...................................................................................... 81 2.3.4.2.3.3 Class 3 ...................................................................................... 83 2.3.4.2.4 Complex wh- elements ................................................................... 83 2.3.4.2.5 Resumptive elements ...................................................................... 85 2.3.4.2.6 Indirect wh- questions ..................................................................... 86 2.3.4.2.7 Partial wh- movement ..................................................................... 88 2.3.4.2.8 Multiple wh- movement .................................................................. 89 2.4 Summary ........................................................................................................... 90 Chapter 3. Basic Word Order ..................................................................................... 91 3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 91 3.2 Subject position and declaratives ...................................................................... 92 3.2.1 Transitive sentences .................................................................................. 94 3.2.1.1 Transitives with one internal DP argument .......................................... 94 3.2.1.2 Transitives with a DP argument and a PP argument............................. 95 3.2.1.3 CP arguments ...................................................................................... 101 3.2.2 Intransitive sentences .............................................................................. 106 3.2.2.1 Intransitives without a PP ................................................................... 106 3.2.2.2 Intransitives requiring a PP argument ................................................. 108 3.2.2.3 Intransitives with an optional PP ........................................................ 109 3.3 Initial, internal and final subjects: phonological and semantic differences .... 110 3.3.1 Intonation ................................................................................................ 110 3.3.2 Information status ................................................................................... 118 3.3.2.1 Wh- questions ...................................................................................... 119 3.3.2.2 Indefinites ........................................................................................... 121 3.3.2.3 Sentence initial non-subject DPs ........................................................ 121 iv 3.3.2.4 Final subjects and right dislocation..................................................... 122 3.3.2.5 Conclusions regarding information structure ...................................... 126 3.4 The basic word order typology of Micronesian languages ............................. 127 3.5 Summary ......................................................................................................... 132 Chapter 4. The Structure of Marshallese Declaratives ............................................. 133 4.1 Sentences with initial subjects ........................................................................ 133 4.1.1 Constituency