Simba & Rafiki, Hakuna Matata: Nominal Coordination and Noun Class Agreement in Swahili Ai Taniguchi (taniguc7@msuedu) April 30, 2013 :* *: :* *: :* *: :* *: :* 1 Overview What happens when you conjoin s in a noun-class language? Agreement Options in Swahili: Resolved ( smart ) Agreement, Default Agreement, and maybe Closest Conjunct Agreement Depends on if it s agreeing with T (subject) or v/agr? (object) Depends on animacy of noun 2 Background Swahili (aka Kiswahili) is a Bantu language spoken in east Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, etc) A polysynthetic language rich in agreement, it is a language of interest in terms of its morphosyntax 21 Basic Facts SO, with some freedom in word order pro-drop erb mandatorily agrees with subject and animate objects erb optionally agrees with inanimate objects 14(ish) noun classes Figure 1: Swahili Noun Class 1
22 Agreement Basic verbal morphology: (1) Yohana a-li-chek-a John1SG 1SG-PST-laugh-F John laughed (2) Yohana a-li-ki-vunj-a kiti John1SG 1SG-PST-OA7-break-F chair John broke the chair SA = Subject Agreement # = Noun class OA = Object Agreement F = Final vowel Post-verbal subject: (3) A-li-chek-a Yohana 1SG-PST-laugh-F John1SG John laughed (4) A-li-ki-vunj-a kiti Yohana 1SG-PST-7SG-break-F chair7sg John1SG John broke the chair 3 Coordination and erbal Agreement Conjoined animate subjects: Resolved agreement 1, (no LCA) Conjoined animate subjects, post-verbal: Resolved (or FCA?) Conjoined inanimate subjects: LCA?) 3 Default (CL8/CL10 2 ) agreement (or 1 Plural of the corresponding noun class 2 aries by speaker; CL8 is the things class and CL10 is the catch-all class 3 Concrete nouns favor default, and abstract nouns prefer LCA, supposedly Conjoined inanimate subjects, post-verbal: Default (or FCA??) Conjoined objects: FCA(?) 31 Subject (5) Animate subjects (CL1) a Mwanamume na man1sg and the man and the laughed b * Mwanamume na man1sg and the man and the laughed mtoto wa-li-chek-a 1SG 1PL-PST-laugh-F mtoto a-li-chek-a 1SG 1SG-PST-laugh-F c Wa-li-chek-a mwanaume na mtoto 1PL-PST-laugh-F man1sg and 1SG the man and the laughed (6) Animate subjects (CL1) 4 a Haroub na Naila wa-li-kuj-a Haroub1SG and Naila1SG 1PL-PST-come-F Haroub and Naila came b * Haroub na Naila a-li-kuj-a Haroub1SG and Naila1SG 1SG-PST-come-F Int: Haroub and Naila came c Wa-li-kuj-a Haroub na Naila 1PL-PST-come-F Haroub1SG and Naila1SG Haroub and Naila came d A-li-kuj-a Haroub na Naila 1SG-PST-come-F Haroub1SG and Naila1SG Haroub and Naila came (7) Inanimate subjects (Same class) 4 Marten (2000) 2
a Mti na mpira vi-li-anguk-a tree3sg and ball3sg 7PL-PST-fall-F the tree and the ball fell b i-li-anguk-a mti na mpira 7PL-PST-fall-F tree3sg and ball3sg the tree and the ball fell c * Mti na mpira mi-li-anguk-a tree3sg and ball3sg 3PL-PST-fall-F the tree and the ball fell (8) Inanimate subjects (Different classes) a Sanduku na mpira vi-li-anguk-a box5sg and ball3sg 7PL-PST-fall-F the box and the ball fell b i-li-anguk-a sanduku na mpira 7PL-PST-fall-F box5sg and ball3sg the box and the ball fell (9) Inanimate subjects (Different classes) 5 a Mguu wa meza na kiti ki-me-vunj-ik-a leg3sg of table and chair7sg 7SG-PERF-break-PS-F The leg of the table and the chair are broken (10) Inanimate subjects (Transitive verb) a Sanduku na mpira vi-li-(ya)-vunj-a box5sg and ball3sg 7PL-PST-5PL-break-F madirisha windows5pl the box and the ball broke the windows b i-li-(ya)-vunj-a madirisha sanduku na 7PL-PST-5PL-break-F windows5pl box5sg and mpira ball3sg 5 Marten (2000) 32 Object the box and the ball broke the windows (11) Animate objects (CL1) a (Mimi) ni-na-m-pend-a mwanamume na (I) 1SG-PRES-1SG-like-F man1sg and mtoto 1SG I like the man and the b (Mimi) ni-na-wa-pend-a (I) 1SG-PRES-1PL-like-F I like the men and the wanaume na mtoto men1pl and 1PL c (Mimi) ni-na-m-pend-a mwanamume na (I) 1SG-PRES-1SG-like-F man1sg and watoto ren1pl I like the man and the ren d (Mimi) ni-na-wa-pend-a (I) 1SG-PRES-1PL-like-F I like the men and the ren e * (Mimi) ni-na-wa-pend-a (I) 1SG-PRES-1PL-like-F I like the man and the (12) Inanimate objects (Same class) a (Mimi) ni-na-u-pend-a (I) 1SG-PRES-3SG-like-F I like the tree and the ball b * (Mimi) ni-na-i-pend-a (I) 1SG-PRES-3PL-like-F I like the tree and the ball wanaume na watoto men1pl and ren1pl mwanamume na mtoto man1sg and 1SG mti na mpira tree3sg and ball3sg mti na mpira tree3sg and ball3sg 3
c * (Mimi) ni-na-vi-pend-a (I) 1SG-PRES-7PL-like-F I like the tree and the ball (13) Inanimate objects (Different classes) a (Mimi) ni-na-li-pend-a (I) 1SG-PRES-5SG-like-F I like the box and the ball b * (Mimi) ni-na-vi-pend-a (I) 1SG-PRES-7PL-like-F I like the box and the ball c * (Mimi) ni-na-ya-pend-a (I) 1SG-PRES-5PL-like-F I like the box and the ball 4 Previous Analyses (Marten (2000)) mti na mpira tree3sg and ball3sg sanduku na mpira box5sg and ball3sg sanduku na mpira box5sg and ball3sg sanduku na mpira box5sg and ball3sg Data kind of a mess (Out of novel, no glosses, no minimal pairs, no data about objects) Resolved agreement: Morphological Agreement ( Part of Swahili grammar?) Default agreement: Anaphoric Agreement (Conjoined NPs are an anaphor of empty nominal subject) FCA and LCA: Syntactic Agreement (Agreement with linearly closest conjunct) Something crazy about inverted subjects 5 Distributed Morphology and Nominal Coordination How does the Swahili data work out with DM? 51 Boskovic 2009 Probe has (a lump of) uninterpretable features that need to be valued by Goal [uf: unvalued uninterpretable feature [if:alue pre-valued interpretable feature [uf:alue pre-valued uninterpretable feature Interpretable = has an effect on semantics Uninterpretable = doesn t have an effect on semantics Intrinsic case, number = pre-valued interpretable Gender = pre-valued uninterpretable uf can delete (once valued), but not if [uf:alue can delete (under Match) If a probe has EPP feature, valuator determines movement 52 Application to Swahili Assumptions: Object agreement is actually agreement, not pronoun incorportation (Ngonyani 1998) Noun class is Gender + Number [unum:, :, EPP on T (subject agreement) [unum:, : on Agr (object agreement)? [inum:x, :Y on Goal s (pre-specified) [inum:pl AND [:CL1 on &P (pre-specified) 4
(14) Animate Subjects (Resolved) T unum : +PL EP P &P inum:+p L,:CL1 [ 1 man & [ 2 v laugh (16) Objects (Comitative) T I v [ unum : -PL like D [ np man nṗ P with PP [ (15) Inanimate Subjects (Default) T unum : +P L : CL7 DEF AULT EP P &P inum:+p L,!:CL1 [ 1! : CL3 tree & [ 2! : CL3 ball v broke window (17) Objects (FCA) T I [ v unum : -PL like &P inum:+p L,:CL1 [ 1 man & [ 2 5
(14) Objects (FCA)- Take 2 T 53 Some Matatas AgrP [ Agr unum : : Agr I v like &P inum:+p L,:CL1<<INACT I E [ 1 man Object Agreement: FCA or Comitative?? Together data: & [ 2 Is noun class gender actually [igen:x, not [:X? Semiproductive: M-ti, ki-ti, u-ti Adjectives can t modify conjoined s: 1PLbeautiful *man1sg and 1SG Subject inversion: How does it have to work in relation to this data? Extraposition? Movement to C? (834 squib wahoo!!) 6 Acknowledgment A big thank you to graduate students Jonathan Choti (Linguistics, MSU) and Alem Otieno (Horticulture, UGA) for their help with the coordination data! Asante sana!! 7 References Bošković, Ž (2009) Unifying first and last conjunct agreement Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 27(3), 455-496 Halle, M, & Marantz, A (1993) Distributed morphology and the pieces of inflection The view from building, 20, 111-176 Marten, L (2000) Agreement with conjoined noun phrases in Swahili In Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere: Swahili Forum II (ol 64, pp 75-96) Ngonyani, D (1998) -to-i movement in Kiswahili Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere, 55, 129-144 (15) Matukio ya ku-m-fung-a result of INF-1SG-tie-F pamoja together Jeejee na Sichana Jeejee1SG and Sichana1SG the result of tying Jeejee and Sichana together Number on &P and its s don t have to be the same? Predictions for animate nouns in other classes? (eg, Ki-jana young man, teenager (CL7) ) 6