Elisabeth Kerr (Leiden University)

When object movement splits the noun phrase

Discontinuous noun phrases are familiar from languages where a difference in information structural (IS) status leads to a split between a noun and its modifier, with one of these elements A’-moved to an IS position in the clausal left periphery (e.g. [Books]Top I saw [THREE]foc). This has influenced proposals such as the Contiguity Principle (Fanselow & Ćavar 2002), where any elements base-generated as part of the same DP are predicted to remain contiguous throughout the derivation unless an interpretational difference drives a split in the syntax.

In this talk, I explore a different type of discontinuous DP found in the Bantu (Niger-Congo) language Tunen, which I argue behaves differently from A’-movement-driven discontinuous DPs in not being motivated by a difference in IS interpretation. The Tunen discontinuous DPs are of form S-TAM-O-V-Mod, as in (1):

(1) a. ‘How many birds do you see?’ (focus=Mod)
b. ‘What do you see?’ (focus=whole DP)
mɛ́ ndɔ tunoní sinә tɔ́lál.

/mɛ Hndɔ tɔ-noní sinә tɔ-Hlálɔ́/

sm.1sg prs 13-bird see 13-three
‘I see three birds.’

Based on original fieldwork in Cameroon, I show that Tunen discontinuous DPs are compatible with multiple IS contexts, contrary to expectations from the Contiguity Principle and prior descriptions of Tunen (Mous 1997, 2003). I then turn to a generative analysis, arguing against an adverbial analysis where the postverbal modifier is base-generated outside the DP. Instead, I present an analysis where these constructions arise through the independent mechanism of formally-driven object movement, which I discuss in relation to subextraction and copy+deletion analyses. In turn, I show how the discontinuous DP data shed light on the best analysis for Tunen’s unusual disharmonic Aux-O-V clausal word order, arguing against a roll-up movement account (as applied to Aux-O-V in e.g. Germanic; Biberauer et al. 2014) and in favour of an account with V-to-v head movement and object movement to SpecVoiceP. In so doing, I relate Tunen’s rare type of discontinuous DPs to the innovation of OV word order (Mous 2005).

References
Biberauer, T., Holmberg, A. & I. Roberts. 2014. A syntactic universal and its consequences. Linguistic Theory, pp. 169-225.
Fanselow, G. & D. Ćavar. 2002. Distributed deletion. In: Aleixadou, A. (ed.), Theoretical approaches to universals, pp. 65-107, John Benjamin.

Mous, M. 1997. The position of the object in Tunen. In: R-M. Déchaine & V. Manfredi (eds.), Object positions in Benue-Kwa, pp. 123-37. Holland Academic Graphics.

Mous, M. 2003. Nen. In: Nurse, D. & G. Philippson (eds.) The Bantu Languages (1st edn), pp. 283-306, Routledge.

Mous, M. 2005. The innovative character of object-verb word order in Nen (Bantu A44, Cameroon). Studies in African comparative linguistics with special focus on Bantu and Mande, pp. 411-24, Tervuren: MRAC.