The Structure of Relative Clauses in Maay Maay By Elly Zimmer

Transcription

1 I Introduction A. Goals of this study The Structure of Relative Clauses in Maay Maay By Elly Zimmer 1. Provide a basic documentation of Maay Maay relative clauses First time this structure has ever been described in this language. 2. Provide a theoretical analysis of Maay Maay relative clauses. B. The language East Cushitic language with 1.8 million speakers (Lewis, Simons & Fennig, 2013). Spoken primarily in southern Somalia. Complex continuum of dialects of Somali and Maay Maay. Under-documented i. Papers: (Paster 2007; Comfort & Paster, 2009; Paster, 2010) ii. English-Maay Dictionary: (Mukhtar & Ahmed, 2007) iii. An unpublished grammatical sketch: (Harley, Coto, Gordon & Zimmer, 2013). C. Methods Data gathered over three months of elicitation with one native speaker of Maay Maay. D. Presentation Roadmap 1. Basic Maay Maay sentence structure 2. Basic properties of Maay Maay relative clauses 3. Data puzzle on Maay Maay complementizers 4. Theoretical analysis 5. Conclusions II The Data: Maay Maay Sentences A. Maay Maay Word Order: S(IO)OV (1) gewər-tə raʃin-kə kari ti girl-def.f. food-def.m. cook-3sg/f.past. The girl cooked the food. (2) igar-kə nin-kə buk si-i boy-def.m. man-def.m. book give-3sg/m.past. The boy gave the man a book. SVO is also very frequent, but it requires the presence of a marker maay before the verb. SVO never occurs in embedded clauses. ACAL 45 Page 1

2 III. The Data: Relative Clauses A. RCs in Maay Maay are externally headed and noun-initial (3) [gewər-tə [igar-kə dʒəˀaalij -e]] raʃin kari- oj it girl-def.f. boy-def.m. love-3sg/m.pres. food cook-prog-3sg/f. The girl who the boy loves is cooking food. B. Relativization Strategy Gapping strategy for all NP types on accessibility hierarchy of Keenan & Comrie (1977). Few or no restrictions on what categories of NPs can be relativized. There appear to be no adpositions in the language. The semantic relations expressed by adpositions in other languages are expressed by locative prefixes on the verb. All NPs besides subjects behave syntactically as direct objects. (4) nin-kə [(ow) raʃin-kə kari -oj -e] sefas indiluw-e man-def.m (that) food-def.m cook-prog-3sg/m. well dance-3sg/m The man who is cooking the food dances well. (5) gewər-tə [(ow) igar-kə dʒəˀaalij -e] raʃin kari- oj -it girl-def.f (that) boy-def.m love-3sg/m food cook-prog-3sg/f.past The girl who the boy loves is cooking food. Subject Direct Object (6) ɪslan -tə [(ow) gewər -tə baʊxoli -gə iin- diipt -i] hundur -oj -it woman-def (that) girl-def bowl- DEF DAT-give-3SG/F.PAST sleep-prog-3sg/f The woman that the girl gave the bowl to is sleeping. Indirect Object (7) bus-kə [(ow) igar-kə ku- kooj-i] halaw-i bus-def.m (that) boy-def.m LOC-come-3SG/M.PAST break-3sg/m.past The bus that the boy came by broke down. Locative C. Relative markers Relative clauses in Maay Maay can be marked by the optional complementizer ow. No restrictions have been found regarding when this can or cannot appear. (8) gewər-tə [(ow) igar-kə dʒəˀaalij -e] raʃin kari- oj -it girl-def.f. (that) boy-def.f. love-3sgm.pres. food cook-prog-3sg/f.pres The girl that the boy loves is cooking food. Maay Maay lacks relative pronouns. (9) a. aj gewər-tə skul-kə ɪs-rəho-jan who girl-def.f. school-def.m REC-go-3PL.PAST Who did the girl go to school with? ACAL 45 Page 2

3 b. igar- kə [(ow) gewər-tə skul-kə ɪs-rəho-jan] boy-def.m (that) girl-def.f school-def.m REC-go-3PL.PAST The boy that the girl went to school with. c. *igar- kə [aj gewər-tə skul-kə ɪs-rəho-jan] boy-def.m who girl-def.f school-def.m REC-go-3PL.PAST IV Interesting Data Puzzle: Maay Maay Complementizers A. Other Embedded Clauses The complementizer ow can never introduce other embedded clauses by itself. (10) a. nin-kə [(ow) darer- e] sefas indiluw -e man-def.m. (that) walk-3sg/m.pres. well dance-3sg/m.pres. The man that is walking dances well. b. *okij -e [ow nin -kə hundur -oj -e] know-1sg.pres. that man-def.m. sleep - PROG-3SG/M.PRES. I know that the man is sleeping. c. *fikɪra -də [ow nin -kə hundur -oj -e] ani idiwoɪtə idea-def.f. that man-def.m. sleep-prog-3sg/m me annoys The idea that the man is sleeping annoys me It can appear in other constructions, but only following other grammatical elements. Sentential Complements (11) fikɪra -də [tas (ow) nin -kə hundur -oj -e] ani idiwoɪtə idea-def.f. that (COMP) man-def.m. sleep-prog-3sg/m me annoys The idea that the man is sleeping annoys me (12) hupij-e [tas ina gewər-tə raʃin-kə] kari -ti know-1/sg.pres. that COMP girl-def.f. food-def.m cook-3sg/f.past I know that the girl cooked the food. Cleft/Focus Constructions (13) ii waay [tii (ow) raʃin- kə kari don-tə] she FOC that.f (COMP) food-def.m. cook AUX:FUT-3SG/F.POT. It is her that will cook the food. (14) usu waay [kii (ow) raʃin- kə kari don-tə] he FOC. that.m (COMP) food-def.m. cook AUX:FUT-3SG/M.POT. It is her that will cook the food. ACAL 45 Page 3

4 Generalizations 1. ow appears in complex DPs 2. tas marks sentential complements 3. tii/kii mark focus constructions. Fig 1: Distribution of complementizers Sentential Complements Focus Constructions Complex DP tas (ow) tii (ow) / kii (ow) Verbal Complement tas ina N/A Question: What are the categories and positions of tas, tii/kii, ow and ina? V Theoretical Analysis A. Assumptions I adopt a promotion analysis of relative clauses as proposed by Kayne (1994). RC is a CP complement to a determiner head. Relativized noun raises to SPEC CP. (15) [DP the [CP [that Bill saw [DP picture]]]] (16) [DP the [CP [picture]i [ that Bill saw [e]i ]]] B. Analysis of Maay Maay complementizers ow is a marker for complex DPs that occupies C (17) gewər CP [(ow) igar-kə dʒəˀaalij -e] girl (COMP) boy-def.m. love-3sg/m.pres. girl that the boy loves Fig 2: girl that the boy loves ACAL 45 Page 4

5 I argue that tas and tii/kii are demonstratives that occupy SPEC CP (18) [fikɪra -də CP[tas [(ow) nin -kə hundur -oj -e]] ani idiwoɪtə idea-def.f. that (COMP) man-def.m. sleep-prog-3sg/m me annoys The idea that the man is sleeping annoys me Evidence: Phonetically similar to other determiners (i.e., the distal demonstrative and definite determiners). tii/kii show same gender agreement pattern as definite articles. (19) gewər təs girl -DEM:DIS.F. That girl (20) a. igar-kə boy-def.m b. gewər-tə girl-def.f The notion of determiners, specifically demonstratives, occupying SPEC positions is well supported in the literature. Giusti (1993) argues that demonstratives in Romanian are generated in SPEC of AgrP and move to SPEC DP. Brugè (2002) adopted this analysis for Spanish, arguing that demonstratives generally are of the category XP and occupy SPEC positions. VI. Summary and Implications ow is a complex DP marker in C position ina may be a verbal complement marker in C position tas is a demonstrative in SPEC CP position which marks sentential complements tii/kii is a demonstrative in SPEC CP position which marks cleft/ focus constructions Upshot: The promotion analysis explains why ow is the only grammatical element which can introduce relative clauses as SPEC CP is occupied by the raised noun. VII. Conclusion I have presented new data from the Maay Maay language with respect to the structure of its relative clauses. Maay Maay is still an under-documented language which can provide data of great typological and theoretical value. ACAL 45 Page 5

6 Special thanks to: My diligent language consultant, Mr. Abdirahman Chirango. My committee members: Dr, Simin Karimi, Dr. Heidi Harley, and Dr. Amy Fountain My colleagues on the Maay Maay grammatical sketch: Rolando Coto Solano and Bryan James Gordon And you! References Brugè, L. (2002). The positions of demonstratives in the extended nominal projections. In: Cinque, G. (Ed.) Functional Structure in DP and IP. Oxford University Press, New York, Comfort, J., & Paster, M. (2009). Notes on Lower Jubba Maay. In Selected Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference on African Linguistics. Somerville, Massachusetts: Cascadilla Proceedings Project (pp ). Giusti, G. (1993). La sintassi del determinant. Padova: Unipress. Harley, Coto, Gordon & Zimmer. (2013) "Grammatical Sketch of Maay Maay, unpublished manuscript, University of Arizona. Kayne, R. (1994). The antisymmetry of syntax. Cambridge: The MIT Press. Keenan, E. L., & Comrie, B. (1977). Noun Phrase Accessibility and Universal Grammar. Linguistic Inquiry, 8, 1, Lamberti, M., & Zaborski, A. (1986). Map of Somali Dialects in the Somali Democratic Republic. H. Buske. Lewis, P., Simons, G., & Fennig, C. (eds). (2013). Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Seventeenth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Mukhtar, M., & Ahmed, O. (2007). English-Maay Dictionary. London: Adonis & Abbey. Paster, M. (2007). Aspects of Maay phonology and morphology. Studies in African Linguistics, 35, 1, 73. Paster, M. (2010). Optional multiple plural marking in Maay. Amsterdam Studies in the Theory and History of Linguistic Science. Series IV, Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 310, ACAL 45 Page 6