Copular constructions in Makhuwa‑Enahara
This paper describes the possible predication strategies in Makhuwa-Enahara and under what circumstances each
occurs. Makhuwa-Enahara (Bantu P31E) has three main copular constructions: Predicative Lowering, the invariant copulas
ti (affirmative) and kahi (negative), and the verbal copulas ori and
okhala. It was previously posited that the choice between predication strategies depended on the syntactic
type of the predicate, but further analysis shows that deference is instead given to the semantic type of the predication. The
underlying structures of Makhuwa-Enahara are identical for Equation, Predication, and Identification; Specification shows a
different structure, and Locative predication yet another. Predicative Lowering and the invariant copula are argued to be
different spell-outs of the Pred head, depending on its raised position within the syntactic tree and whether or not the initial
element of the predicate is long enough to undergo Predicative Lowering.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Copulas
- 3.Predication strategies in Makhuwa
- 3.1Predicative Lowering
- 3.2The invariant copula
- 3.3The verbal copulas
- 3.4Non-verbal negation
- 4.Predication strategy selection
- 4.1Selection for tense
- 4.2Selection for phonology
- 4.3Selection for non-verbal predication type
- 5.The structure of non-verbal predication
- 5.1Predication, Equation, and Identification
- 5.2Specification
- 5.3Short predicates and non-verbal negation
- 5.4Non-present
- 5.5Locative
- 6.Summary
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Abbreviations and symbols
-
References
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