Language Typology and Syntactic Description, Volume I: Clause Structure, Second edition
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Lgg Typology, Synt Description v. I - Clause structure
Avery D. Andrews
Chi-Mwi:ni illustrates what is called ‘asymmetric’ behaviour with respect to object properties: the clause contains multiple nps whose appearance is not distinct from an np in p function. Only one exhibits the properties normally exhibited by a sole p (but not an s, and therefore can be plausibly analysed as bearing a ‘direct object’ grammatical relation). Asymmetric behaviour is widely found in the languages of the world – see, for example, Chung (1976) for an example involving five object properties in Bahasa Indonesia, but there are two additional possibilities. One is ‘symmetrical’ behaviour, where more than one of the nps that super- ficially look like p also share substantial grammatical behaviour with a sole p. Ojibwa in fact has a limited degree of symmetry: both direct and second objects trigger object agreement on the verb, when only one is present (Rhodes (1990)). And so in fact does English. For most speakers, if a recipient appears as a full np in a double object construction, it is the sole candidate for passivization; the second object is excluded: 17 (86) a. Paul was handed the shovel (by Susan) b. %The shovel was handed Paul (by Susan) We can normally only passivize the theme if the recipient is expressed as an (oblique) to-object, as in The shovel was handed to Paul (by Susan). Thus we seem to have an asymmetric construction with the recipient as direct object. But if the recipient is a pronoun, it seems to be possible to passivize the theme, at least in some dialects: (87) a. No explanation was given them b. The job was offered him c. Fake documents were given him Oehrle (1976:177) finds such examples scattered throughout English writing and broadcasting (the postverbal dative is almost always a pronoun). In these cases the degree of symmetry is limited enough so that there isn’t a real problem in deciding which np should be regarded as the direct object, but in some languages the symmetrical behaviour is far more pervasive, to the point where it seems plausible to postulate multiple direct objects. The original example of symmetrical behaviour – and still one of the most extensive – is provided by another Bantu language, Kinyarwanda (Gary and Keenan (1977); Kimenyi (1980)). In this language, as in Chi-Mwi:ni, there can be multiple bare nps after the verb that look like p, but in many cases more than one of them can manifest 17 The ‘%’ indicates the variable acceptability of the (b) example. Some English speakers accept it and some do not. The major functions of the noun phrase 187 the grammatical properties of p, rather than only one. Two of these p-properties are the ability to be passivized, and to be replaced by a verbal prefix when pronominal. 18 Below is an example with three p-like postverbal nps, and a variant where they are all replaced by pronominal object prefixes: (88) a. Umug´ore a-r´a-h´e-er-a umugabo ´ımbwa ib´ıryo woman she-pres-give-applic-asp man dog food ‘The woman is giving food to the dog for the man’ b. Umug´ore a-r´a-bi-y´ı-mu-h´e-er-a woman she-pres-it-it-him-give-applic-asp ‘The woman is giving it to it for him’ Kimenyi (1980:65) And here we see any of the three being passivized (but only one at a time): (89) a. Ib´ıryo bi-r´a-h´e-er-w-a umugabo ´ımbwa n’ˆuumg´ore food it-pres-give-applic-pass-asp man dog by.woman ‘The food is given to the dog for the man by the woman’ b. ´ımbwa i-r´a-h´e-er-w-a umugabo ib´ıryo n’ˆuumg´ore dog it-pres-give-applic-pass-asp man food by.woman ‘The dog is given the food for the man by the woman’ c. Umugabo a-r´a-h´e-er-w-a ´ımbwa ib´ıryo n’ˆuumg´ore man he-pres-give-applic-pass-asp dog food by.woman ‘The man is given food for the dog by the woman’ By contrast, there are other multiple-apparent-p constructions where not all of the bare postverbal nps can show the grammatical object properties. For example, a locative argument can be expressed as a bare np after the verb (which has a locative marker suffixed to it), along with the patient, but it is the locative not the patient that shows the object properties of pronominalization and passivization: (90) a. ´ Umw´aalimu y-oohere-j´e-ho iishuˆuri igitabo teacher he-send-asp-to school book ‘The teacher sent the book to the school’ b. ´ Umw´aalimu y-a-ry-oohere-j´e-ho igitabo teacher he-past-it-send-asp-to book ‘The teacher sent the book to it’ 18 In Chi-Mwi:ini, the verbal object-marking prefixes serve as agreement markers which can co- occur with full nps, which can also be omitted, while in Kinyarwanda they are mutually exclusive with nps. See Bresnan and Mchombo (1987) for discussion of this typological difference. |
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