Remnant Raising and VSO Clausal Architecture: A Case Study of San Lucas Quiavini Zapotec

Lee, Felicia

San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec, an endangered and little-examined indigenous language of Mexico, shows a range of syntactic and morphological phenomena incompatible with standard Minimalist accounts of verb movement: verbs and clearly phrasal constituents behave identically in a number of syntactic constructions, and the ordering of verbal morphemes is problematic for standard assumptions of verbal head movement.

This work proposes a VP-remnant raising account for these phenomena, motivated by Kayne’s (1992) Antisymmetry program. This work also examines consequences of phrasal remnant movement for negation constructions, question formation; and the interpretation of tense, aspect, and mood.

Details

Published by: Springer

Publication Date: 2008-01-31

Format: Paperback

ISBN-13: 9781402081873

DOI: 10.1007/1-4020-4308-2

Dimensions: 240.0cm x160.0cm

Pages: 278.0