Subject marking in Awing

This paper investigates the principles that govern subject marking in Awing (Grassfields Bantu). We observe that the subject marker (SM) that doubles the subject is sometimes obligatory, sometimes optional and sometimes prohibited. We argue that it is the referentiality of the subject that controls...

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Main Authors:	Henry Zamchang Fominyam, Doreen Georgi
Format:	article
Language:	EN FR
Published:	LibraryPress@UF 2021
Subjects:	pronominal arguments left-dislocation referentiality agreement drop Grassfields Bantu Philology. Linguistics P1-1091
Online Access:	https://doaj.org/article/115b19e8c6024a858e155f7d615dca4a
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:115b19e8c6024a858e155f7d615dca4a
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:115b19e8c6024a858e155f7d615dca4a2021-11-19T03:51:46ZSubject marking in Awing10.32473/sal.v50i1.1185280039-35332154-428Xhttps://doaj.org/article/115b19e8c6024a858e155f7d615dca4a2021-04-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.flvc.org/sal/article/view/118528https://doaj.org/toc/0039-3533https://doaj.org/toc/2154-428X This paper investigates the principles that govern subject marking in Awing (Grassfields Bantu). We observe that the subject marker (SM) that doubles the subject is sometimes obligatory, sometimes optional and sometimes prohibited. We argue that it is the referentiality of the subject that controls the distribution of the SM in Awing, rather than factors such as its morpho-syntactic features or its information structural status, which have been identified to govern argument doubling in a number of other languages with a similar phenomenon. The empirical evidence leads us to conclude that the SM is a pronominal element in Awing rather than an agreement marker. When it occurs, it functions as the argument of the verb and the associated subject NP is base-generated in the left periphery of the clause; when it is absent, the NP is the verbal argument. Awing thus qualifies as a pronominal argument language in the sense of Jelinek (1984); Bresnan and Mchombo (1987); Baker (1996). Henry Zamchang FominyamDoreen GeorgiLibraryPress@UFarticlepronominal argumentsleft-dislocationreferentialityagreement dropGrassfields BantuPhilology. LinguisticsP1-1091ENFRStudies in African Linguistics, Vol 50, Iss 1 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN FR
topic	pronominal arguments left-dislocation referentiality agreement drop Grassfields Bantu Philology. Linguistics P1-1091
spellingShingle	pronominal arguments left-dislocation referentiality agreement drop Grassfields Bantu Philology. Linguistics P1-1091 Henry Zamchang Fominyam Doreen Georgi Subject marking in Awing
description	This paper investigates the principles that govern subject marking in Awing (Grassfields Bantu). We observe that the subject marker (SM) that doubles the subject is sometimes obligatory, sometimes optional and sometimes prohibited. We argue that it is the referentiality of the subject that controls the distribution of the SM in Awing, rather than factors such as its morpho-syntactic features or its information structural status, which have been identified to govern argument doubling in a number of other languages with a similar phenomenon. The empirical evidence leads us to conclude that the SM is a pronominal element in Awing rather than an agreement marker. When it occurs, it functions as the argument of the verb and the associated subject NP is base-generated in the left periphery of the clause; when it is absent, the NP is the verbal argument. Awing thus qualifies as a pronominal argument language in the sense of Jelinek (1984); Bresnan and Mchombo (1987); Baker (1996).
format	article
author	Henry Zamchang Fominyam Doreen Georgi
author_facet	Henry Zamchang Fominyam Doreen Georgi
author_sort	Henry Zamchang Fominyam
title	Subject marking in Awing
title_short	Subject marking in Awing
title_full	Subject marking in Awing
title_fullStr	Subject marking in Awing
title_full_unstemmed	Subject marking in Awing
title_sort	subject marking in awing
publisher	LibraryPress@UF
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/115b19e8c6024a858e155f7d615dca4a
work_keys_str_mv	AT henryzamchangfominyam subjectmarkinginawing AT doreengeorgi subjectmarkinginawing
_version_	1718420593621073920

Subject marking in Awing

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