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Article published In:
Studies in Language
Vol. 41:1 (2017) ► pp.99–141

Clause-internal antitopics in Berta, a Nilo-Saharan verb-second language

| Aalborg University |

This article deals with clausal constituent order and dislocation constructions in Berta, a Nilo-Saharan language with indicative clauses being verb-second. The preverbal slot is occupied by either an unmarked NP which may have any or no grammatical relation to the verb, a focus constituent, or a particular function word. This slot may be empty, but in that case it implies a zero third person referent. In addition to left-dislocated NPs, which are clause-external and which are resumed pronominally clause-internally, in some cases by zero, Berta also has a construction in which an NP is right-dislocated but remains inside the clause. This “antitopic” is marked by a preposition, and it has a clause-internal pronominal antecedent which may be zero and which is either a subject, an object or an adverbial. The clause-internal status of the antitopic is evidenced by the fact that it may be followed by certain other clause-internal constituents.

Keywords: Berta, antitopic, dislocation, verb-second, zero anaphora
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Basic clausal syntax: Indicative clauses
    • 2.1Constituent order in indicative clauses
    • 2.2Declarative clauses: NP in P1
      • 2.2.1Subject and object in P1
      • 2.2.2Recipient/Beneficiary in P1
      • 2.2.3Adverbial in P1
      • 2.2.4Possessor in P1
      • 2.2.5Possessum slot
      • 2.2.6Postverbal pronominal subjects and objects
      • 2.2.7The INTR suffix
      • 2.2.8Third person pronouns in P1 and empty P1
      • 2.2.9Syntactic status of P1 constituents
    • 2.3Other clause types with NP in P1
    • 2.4Relative clauses: Empty P1
    • 2.5Clauses with P1 as a focus position
      • 2.5.1Constituent questions
      • 2.5.2Clauses with marked constituent focus
      • 2.5.3The order of postverbal pronominal elements
    • 2.6Clauses with a fixed P1 constituent
      • 2.6.1Negative imperative clauses
      • 2.6.2Adverbial clauses
      • 2.6.3Sequential clauses
  • 3.Basic clausal syntax: Subjunctive clauses
    • 3.1Imperative clauses
    • 3.2Sequential clauses
    • 3.3Hortative clauses
    • 3.4Purposive clauses
  • 4.Left-dislocation
    • 4.1Introduction to left-dislocation
    • 4.2Postverbal pronominal resumption
    • 4.3Resumption via an empty P1 slot
    • 4.4Resumption by zero in clauses without a P1 slot
  • 5.Antitopic constructions: nà-phrases
    • 5.1Coreference with a zero antecedent
    • 5.2Coreference with a postverbal pronominal subject or object
    • 5.3Coreference with a postverbal pronominal adverb
    • 5.4Coreference with a zero possessor-antecedent
    • 5.5Antitopic as a clause-internal constituent
  • 6.Discourse function of antitopics
    • 6.1Antecedent as subject
    • 6.2Antecedent as object
    • 6.3Antecedent as adverbial
    • 6.4Pronominal antitopics
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References


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Published online: 1 June 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.41.1.04and
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