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Article published In:
Lexical flexibility in Oceanic languages
Edited by Eva van Lier
[Studies in Language 41:2] 2017
► pp. 408–444

Categorial flexibility as an artefact of the analysis

Pronouns, articles and the DP in Hoava and Standard Fijian

| University of Newcastle (Australia)

Hoava sa and ria have been analysed as pronouns in some contexts, and articles in others, an apparent case of flexibility in functional categories. However, this analysis depends on an assumption that pronouns are NP head. An alternative analysis employing the Determiner Phrase (DP) demonstrates that in all contexts sa/ria occupy the same syntactic position: DP head. They are always pronouns, alternating with articles in D, an analysis supported by evidence that 1st/2nd pronouns behave in an identical way. This unified analysis gives no grounds for positing membership of separate categories. In contrast, in Standard Fijian (SF) articles and pronouns occupy different syntactic positions: SF pronouns are not in D, but in N. The paper concludes that structures such as DP have considerable descriptive power; pronouns behave variably across Oceanic; and Hoava sa/ria are pronouns in all contexts. Their apparent flexibility was an artefact of earlier analyses, not a feature of the grammar.

Keywords: categorial flexibility, Oceanic, article, pronoun, Determiner Phrase, functional categories, Noun Phrase
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Categorial flexibility
    • 1.2Functional categories
    • 1.3Defining the categories
    • 1.4Hoava
    • 1.5Apparent categorial flexibility in Hoava functional categories
  • 2.Articles in Hoava and Standard Fijian
    • 2.1Articles in Standard Fijian
    • 2.2Articles in Hoava
      • 2.2.1The ‘general article’
      • 2.2.2Null article
      • 2.2.3Davis’s “definite articles” sa, ria and eri
      • 2.2.4Personal articles
  • 3.Hoava independent pronouns
    • 3.1Pronouns with numerals
    • 3.2Pronoun NP ‘apposition’
  • 4.Categorial flexibility of eri
    • 4.1 Eri as pronoun or definite article
    • 4.2 Eri as personal article
    • 4.3 Eri conclusion
  • 5.Status of sa and ria
  • 6.Pronouns and the Hoava NP
    • 6.1Pronouns and nouns
    • 6.2Lexical adnominal modifiers
    • 6.3Pronouns and articles
    • 6.4Pronoun conclusions
  • 7.DP analysis
    • 7.1The DP
    • 7.2Fijian pronouns in the DP
    • 7.3Hoava pronouns in the DP
    • 7.4Hoava determiner summary
    • 7.5Pronouns in D and in N
  • 8.Implications of the pronoun in D analysis for categorial flexibility of Hoava pronouns and articles
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 5 October 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.41.2.05pal
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