Article published in:
Information Structure and Reference Tracking in Complex Sentences
Edited by Rik van Gijn, Jeremy Hammond, Dejan Matić, Saskia van Putten and Ana Vilacy Galucio
[Typological Studies in Language 105] 2014
► pp. 45–70

Subordinate clauses and exclusive focus in Makhuwa

| University of Cambridge
In Makhuwa the element immediately after the conjoint verb form is interpreted as exclusive focus (Van der Wal 2011). This paper shows that the relation between the conjoint verb form and focus in Immediate After Verb (IAV) position holds not only for nouns and simple adverbs, but also for adverbial subordinate clauses with a relative or Situative verb, which are clearly focused when they follow a conjoint verb form. I propose that the reason that sentential complements do not receive a focus interpretation in the same position is due to the absence of internal information structure in the adverbial clauses. Hence, adverbial clauses but not complement clauses function as a single integrated informational unit in the information structure of the main clause. Keywords: Makhuwa; exclusive focus; subordinate clause; information structure
Published online: 05 March 2014
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.105.02van
References

References

Bennett, Patrick R., Biersteker, Ann J., Gikonyo, Waithira L., Herschberg, Susan, Kamande, Joel, Harford, Carolyn & Swearingen, Martha.
1985 Gĩkũyũ nĩ kĩoigire: A First Course in Kikuyu. Madison WI: University of Wisconsin-Madison.Google Scholar
Bickel, Balthasar.
1993 Belhare subordination and the theory of topic. In Studies in Clause Linkage, Karin Ebert (ed.), 23-55. Zürich: ASAS.Google Scholar
Buell, Leston.
2006 The Zulu conjoint/disjoint verb alternation: Focus or constituency? ZAS WPiL 43: 9-30.Google Scholar
2007 Evaluating the immediate postverbal position as a focus position in Zulu. In Selected Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference on African Linguistics: Linguistic Theory and African Language Documentation , Masangu Matondo, Fiona Mc Laughlin & Eric Potsdam (eds), 166-172. Somerville MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Centis, Gino.
2000 Metodo Macua. Anchilo: Centro Catequetico Paulo VI.Google Scholar
Chafe, Wallace.
1984 How people use adverbial clauses. In Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society , 437-449.
Cheng, Lisa L.-S. & Downing, Laura J..
2011 Against FocusP: Arguments from Zulu. In Information Structure. Contrasts and Positions, Ivona Kučerová & Ad Neeleman (eds), 247-266. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Cristofaro, Sonia.
2003 Subordination. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Diessel, Holger.
2001 The ordering distribution of main and adverbial clauses a typological study. Language 77: 345-365 CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Doke, Clement M..
1945 Text-book of Zulu Grammar. London: Longmans, Green & Co., Pietermaritzburg printed (4th edn, on behalf of the University of the Witwatersrand).Google Scholar
1935 Bantu Linguistic Terminology. London: Longmans, Green.Google Scholar
Evans, Nicholas.
2007 Insubordination and its uses. In Finiteness: Theoretical and Empirical Foundations, Irina Nikolaeva (ed.), 366-431. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Ford, Cecilia E..
1993 Grammar in Interaction. Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Givón, Talmy.
1975 Focus and the scope of assertion: Some Bantu evidence. Studies in African Linguistics 6(2): 185-205.Google Scholar
2001 Syntax, Vol. II. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Güldemann, Tom.
1996 Verbalmorphologie und Nebenprädikationen im Bantu: Eine Studie zur funktional motivierten Genese eines konjugationalen Subsystems. Bochum: Universitätsverlag Dr. N. Brockmeyer.Google Scholar
1998 The relation between imperfective and simultaneous taxis in Bantu. Late stages of grammaticalization. In Afrikanische Sprachen im Brennpunkt der Forschung, Ines Fiedler, Catherine Griefenow-Mewis & Brigitte Reineke (eds), 157-177. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.Google Scholar
2005 Asyndetic subordination and deverbal depictive expressions in Shona. In Secondary Predication and Adverbial Modification: The Typology of Depictives. Nikolaus Himmelmann & Eva Schultze-Berndt (eds), 323-353. Oxford: OUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Guthrie, Malcolm.
1948 The Classification of the Bantu Languages. London: OUP.Google Scholar
Haiman, John.
1978 Conditionals are topics. Language 54: 564-589.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Harris, Alice C. & Campbell, Lyle.
1995 Historical Syntax in Crosslinguistic Perspective. Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin.
1995 The converb as a cross-linguistically valid category. In Haspelmath & König (eds), 1-55.
Haspelmath, Martin & König, Ekkehard (eds).
1995 Converbs in Cross-Linguistic Perspective: Structure and Meaning of Adverbial Verb Forms – Adverbial Participles, Gerunds. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Hooper, Joan & Thompson, Sandra A..
1973 On the applicability of root transformations. Linguistic Inquiry 4(4): 465-491.Google Scholar
Hyman, Larry M. & Polinsky, Maria.
2009 Focus in Aghem. In Information Structure: Theoretical, Typological, and Experimental Perspectives, Malte Zimmermann & Caroline Féry (eds), 206-233. Oxford: OUP.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
König, Ekkehard.
1995 The meaning of converb constructions. In Haspelmath & König (eds), 57-96.
Lambrecht, Knud.
1994 Information Structure and Sentence Form. Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lehmann, Christian.
1988 Towards a typology of clause linage. In Clause Combining in Grammar and Discourse [Typological Studies in Language 18], John Haiman & Sandra Thompson (eds), 181-225. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Nedjalkov, Vladimir P..
1995 Some typological parameters of converbs. In Haspelmath & König (eds), 97-136.
Nikolaeva, Irina.
2007 Finiteness. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Noonan, Michael.
2007 Complementation. In Language Typology and Syntactic Description, Vol. II: Complex Constructions, Timothy Shopen (ed.), 52-150. Cambridge: CUP.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Stassen, Leon.
1985 Comparison and Universal Grammar. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Stucky, Susan.
1979 The interaction of tone and focus in Makua. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 1(2): 189-198. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, Sandra A..
1985 Grammar and written discourse: Initial vs. final purpose clauses in English. Text 5: 55-84.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, Sandra A., Longacre, Robert E. & Hwang, Shin Ja J..
2007 Adverbial clauses. In Language Typology, Vol. II: Complex Constructions, Timothy Shopen (ed.), 237-300. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Van der Spuy, Andrew.
1993 Dislocated noun phrases in Nguni. Lingua 90: 335-355. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Van der Wal, Jenneke.
2006 Predicative tone lowering in Makhuwa. Linguistics in the Netherlands 23: 224-236. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2009 Word Order and Information Structure in Makhuwa-Enahara. Utrecht: LOT.Google Scholar
2010 The Makhuwa non-subject relative as a participial modifier. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 31(2): 205-231. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2011 Focus excluding alternatives: Conjoint/disjoint marking in Makhuwa. Lingua 121(11): 1734-1750. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Van der Wal, Jenneke & Veenstra, Tonjes.
Submitted. The long and short of verb alternations in Mauritian Creole and Bantu languages.Crossref
Van Valin Jr., Robert D..
2005 Exploring the Syntax-Semantics Interface. Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Watters, John.
1979 Focus in Aghem. In Aghem Grammatical Structure, Larry M. Hyman (ed.), 157-189. Los Angeles CA: University of Southern California.Google Scholar
Yoneda, Nobuko.
2011 Word order in Matengo: Topicality and informational roles. Lingua 121(5): 754-771. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by other publications

Letsholo-Tafila, Rose
2018. A Characterisation of Setswana Complex Sentences. Language Matters 49:2 ► pp. 80 ff. Crossref logo
van der Wal, Jenneke & Tonjes Veenstra
2015. The long and short of verb alternations in Mauritian Creole and Bantu languages. Folia Linguistica 49:1 Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 december 2020. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.