TY  - CHAP
A1  - Morimoto, Yukiko
T1  - Agreement properties and word order in comparative bantu
T2  - Papers in Bantu grammar and description / editors: Laura J. Downing, Lutz Marten & Sabine Zerbian, Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Typologie und Universalienforschung, Berlin, 2006, : ZAS papers in linguistics ; Nr. 43
N2  - Agreement is traditionally viewed as a cross-referencing device for core arguments such as subjects and (primary) objects.1 In this paper, I discuss data from Bantu languages that lead to a radical departure from this generally accepted position: agreement in a subset of Bantu languages cross-references a (sentential) topic rather than the subject. The crucial evidence for topic agreement comes from a construction known as subject-object (S-O) reversal, where the fronted patient agrees with what has uniformly been taken to be a `subject marker'. The correct analysis of S-O reversal as a topic construction with `topic agreement' explains a range of known facts in the languages in question. Furthermore, synchronic variation across Bantu in the presence/absence of S-O reversal and in the properties of the (topic/subject) agreement marker suggests a diachronic path from topic to subject marking. The systematic variation and covariation in the syntax of Bantu languages and the historical picture that it offers would be missed altogether if we continue to reject the idea that the notion of topic can be deeply grammaticized in the form of agreement.
KW  - Syntax
KW  - Bantusprachen
KW  - Syntaktische Kongruenz
KW  - Thema-Rhema-Gliederung
Y1  - 2006
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/30954
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-309542
UR  - http://www.zas.gwz-berlin.de/189.html
SN  - 1435-9588
SN  - 0947-7055
VL  - 43
SP  - 161
EP  - 187
PB  - Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung
CY  - Berlin
ER  -