NELS 46, Concordia University, Montréal ⋅ 17 October 2015
Tonal reflexes of successive-cyclic movement in Asante Twi
Sampson Korsah & Andrew Murphy
University of Leipzig
{andrew.murphy, sampson.korsah}@uni-leipzig.de
1 Claims
• There are numerous kinds of evidence supporting this, for example:
– Reconstruction at intermediate positions.
• Asante Twi exhibits systematic tonal changes on verb and complementizers that
reflect whether movement has taken place in that clause.
– Stranding of elements in intermediate positions.
– Morphological reflexes of movement.
• The morphological realization of phase heads crossed by successive-cyclic Āmovement is as a floating tone (H/L- ) triggering tonal overwriting.
2.2 The size of phases
• Differences in which affixes are affected by this tonal process reflect the clause
structure in Asante Twi (low AspP; cf. Kandybowicz 2015).
• A central issue in the discussion of successive-cyclic movement is how large
locality domains are.
• A rare case of a purely tonal reflex of movement.
• There are a number of proposals for the size of phases:
• Syntax-phonology interface: Tone can realize the abstract ‘EPP/edge feature’
property of language.
– (At least) vP is a phase: e.g. Fox (1999); Legate (2003)
– Only vP is a phase: e.g. Rackowski & Richards (2005); den Dikken (2009)
2 Background: the issues
– Only CP is a phase: e.g. Chomsky (1973, 1977); Keine (2015)
2.1 Successive-cyclic movement
– (At least) CP is a phase: e.g. Torrego (1984); Barss (1986); McCloskey (2000); Torrence (2012)
• Since Chomsky (1977), it has been assumed that long-distance movement takes
place in smaller steps (successive-cyclic movement):
(1)
– Both CP and vP are phases: e.g. Saddy (1991); Chomsky (2001); van Urk & Richards (2015)
– Every phrase is a phase: e.g. Manzini (1994); Bošković (2007a); Lahne (2008); Müller (2010,
‘One-fell-swoop’ movement:
[ CP Who does [ TP John think [ CP that [ TP Mary likes <who> ]]]] ?
2011)
8
(2)
• The evidence presented here supports the view that
at least CP and vP are phases.
Successive-cyclic movement:
[ CP Who does [ TP John think [ CP <who> that [ TP Mary likes <who> ]]]]
1
2.3 Morphological reflexes of movement
• The syllable is the tone-bearing unit (Dolphyne 2006; Paster 2010).
Complementizer alternation in Irish (McCloskey 1979, 2002):
(3)
3.2 Tonal alternations in Asante Twi
Dúirt mé [ CP gu-r
shíl
[ CP mé go meadh sé ann
said I
go-past thought
I go would.be he there
‘I said that I thought that he would be there.’
(4)
[ DP an tainm [ CP a hinndeadh dúinn [ CP a bhí t ar an áit ]]]
the name
aL was.told to.us
aL was on the place
‘the name that we were told was on the place.’
(5)
cen t-ursceal a mheas me [ CP a duirt se [ CP a thuig
se]]?
which novel
aL thought I
aL said he
aL understood he
‘Which novel did I think he said he understood?’
• Low toned verbs become high-toned in wh-questions:
(6)
a.
b.
Amma pE bayérÉ.
Ama like yam
‘Ama likes yam.’
DéÉn i na Amma pÉ t i ?
what foc Ama like
‘What does Ama like?’
• The same applies to clefted focus constructions:
• The form of the complementizer in clauses without movement is go.
• If crossed by an Ā-dependency, the form of the complementizer is aL .
(7)
a.
• We argue that Akan shows exactly the same pattern, but for tone.
b.
3 Data
3.1 Asante Twi
Kofi kita bayérÉ.
Kofi hold yam
‘Kofi is holding a yam.’
BayérÉ i na Kofi kítá t i .
yam
foc Kofi hold
‘It is yam that Kofi is holding.’
3.3 Is it construction-specific?
• Dialect of Akan (Niger-Congo, Kwa) spoken by around 7.5 millon speakers in
Ghana (Williamson & Blench 2000; Kropp Dakubu 2009).
• Previous literature (e.g. Marfo 2005; Marfo & Bodomo 2005) assumes that this
process is specific to the na-focus construction.
• Main dialects of Akan: Asante Twi, Fante, Akuapem Twi.
(8)
Hypothesis A:
Tonal changes on verbs are specific to the na-construction.
• However, this appraoch faces the following problems:
– The process is also attested in relative clauses.
– The process affects every verb (and complementizer) in a long-distance dependency.
• Thus, we instead advance the following generalization:
Hypothesis B:
Tonal changes on verbs and complementizers are reflexes of successive-cyclic
Ā-movement.
• SVO, terraced-tone language (Schachter & Fromkin 1968) distinguishing between high (á) and low (unmarked: a), with downstep between two successive
high tones.
2
3.3.1
Relative clauses
b.
• Relative clauses also exhibit tonal changes, despite not being na-constructions:
(9)
a.
b.
Kofi hu-u kŕataá nó.
Kofi see-pst paper def
‘Kofi saw the paper.’
[ DP Kŕataá nói [ CP áa Kofi hú-uE ti nó ]] da pónó nó só.
paper def
rel K. see-pst cd lie table def top
‘The paper that Kofi saw is on the table.’
• Furthermore, every complementizer also exhibits a change from high (HL) to
low.
• This is a problem for theories that assumed that the inserted H tone originates
on na (e.g. Marfo 2005).
• It also suggests a link to successive-cyclic movement.
Relative clause:
• The class of constructions affected is now: ex situ wh-questions, focus clefts and
relative clauses.
(13)
a.
• These are typical Ā-constructions.
3.3.2
The scope of the process
• Note that low-toned aspectual affixes are affected:
b.
(10)
a.
b.
Baá re-seré
hwáń?
Baah prog-laugh who
Hwáń na Baá ré-séré
nó?
who foc Baah prog-laugh 3sg
‘Who is Baah laughing at?’
(Marfo 2005)
a.
b.
3.3.3
Kofi boá-a
Afiá
Kofi help-past Afia
‘Kofi helped Afia’
Kofi na O-bóá-a
Afiá
Kofi foc 3sg-help-past Afia
‘It is Kofi who helped Afia’
(14)
(Marfo 2005:9)
Esi nim sÊ Kofi kaé sÊ Amma kita bayérÉ ?
Esi know comp Kofi know comp Ama hold yam
‘Esi know that Kofi remembers that Ama is holding a yam?’
DéÉn i na Esi níḿ sE Kofi káé sE Amma kítá t i nó ?
what foc Esi know comp Kofi know comp Ama hold cd
‘What does Esi know that Kofi remembers that Ama is holding?’
3.4 Interim summary
• Every verb crossed by a long-distance Ā-dependency is affected:
a.
a.
b.
Long-distance dependencies
(12)
Me-nim [ CP sÊ obíárá
á-te
[ CP sÊ Kofi á-ka
1sg-know
comp everybody perf-hear
comp Kofi perf-say
[ CP sÊ O-dO
Obáá nó]]].
comp 3sg-love woman def.
’I know that everybody has heard that Kofi has said that he loves the
woman.’
Me-hu-u [ DP Obáá nói [ CP áa obíárá
á-té
[ CP sE
1sg-see
woman def
rel everybody hear.past
comp
nói nó ]]]] .
Kofi á-ká
[ CP sE O-dÓ
comp 3sg-fut-love 3sg cd
Kofi perf-say
‘I saw the woman whom everybody has heard that Kofi has said that he
loves her.’
ex situ wh-question:
• However, tense affixes and pronominal/agreement markers are not:
(11)
sE Amma pÉ t i .
BayérÉ i na Kofi níḿ sE Esi á-ká
yam
foc Kofi know comp Esi perf-say comp Ama like
‘It is yam that Kofi knows that Esi has said that Ama likes.’
• The new observations we attain from these data are that:
– Every verb in a long-distance Ā-dependency will have its low tones realized
as high.
Kofi nim sÊ Esi á-ka
sÊ Amma pE bayérÉ.
Kofi know comp Esi perf-say comp Ama like yam
‘Kofi knows that Esi has said that Ama likes yam.’
– Every complementizer in a long-distance Ā-dependency will have its high
tone realized as low.
3
• Thus, the relation between the resumptive and the wh-phrase show properties
of movement.
• Thus, it seems that these are genuine tonal reflexes associated with verbs and
complementizers (v and C) and thus correspond to what we would standardly
assume to be phase heads (cf. Chomsky 2000, 2001).
4.2.2
• We will therefore propose that these tonal processes are direct reflexes of
successive-movement: the tonal alternations on the phase head mark whether
movement has place through that phase, or not.
Reconstruction for Principle C
(18)
4 Analysis
4.1 Island insensitvity
• Challenge for our account: island insensitivity (Saah & Goodluck 1995)
(15)
(16)
Henai na wo-huu [ DP onipa ko [ CP a O-bOO noi no ]] ?
who foc 2sg-saw
person
rel 3sg-hit 3sg cd
‘*Who did you see the person who hit?’
(Complex NP island)
DeEni na Mary bisaa [ CP sE hena na O-yE-e
ti ] ?
what foc Mary ask
that who foc 3sg-make-pst
‘*What did Mary ask who made?’
• Akan has Principle C effects (18a), and these obtain even if the DP in question has
been fronted (18b,c), suggesting that the DP is interpreted in a lower position.
4.2.3
(wh-island)
Answer:
• Asante Twi has obligatory overt resumption with animates and obligatory covert
resumption with inanimates.
4.3 Analyzing movement reflexes
Crossover effects
Crossover Effects in Akan:
a. Hwáni na O-tán
néi -núá
nó?
who foc 3sg-hate poss.3sg-brother cd
‘Who hates his brother?’
b. ??Hwáni na néi -núá
tán nó nó?
who foc poss.3sg-brother hate 3sg cd
‘Whoi does hisi brother hate?’
c. *Hwáni na Oi -tán nó nó?
who foc 3sg-hate 3sg cd
‘Whoi does hei hate?’
Hwáń na abOfrá bíárá dÓ no?
who foc child every love 3sg
‘Who does every child love?’
Individual answer: ‘Kofi’
(wh > ∀)
Pair-list answer: ‘Kofi dO Ama, Kwame dO Kwaku, Adjoa dO Kwabena’
(∀ > wh)
• The fact that a pair-list reading is available suggests that the wh-phrase can take
scope below the universal quantifier (e.g. reconstruction).
4.2 Evidence for movement
(17)
Quantifier scope
(19)
• Resumption can obviate island-effects (Borer 1984), therefore no island sensitivity.
4.2.1
Reconstruction for Principle C
a. O*i/j -pE [Kofii ḿfónírí]
3sg-like Kofi picture
‘He likes the picture of Kofi’
b. [Kofii ḿfónírí yí] na O*i/j -pÉ tDP
Kofi picture this foc 3sg-like
‘It’s this picture of Kofi that he likes’
c. [Kofii ḿfónírí yí] na Ama níḿ sE O*i -pÉ tDP
Kofi picture this foc Ama think that 3sg-like
‘It’s this picture of Kofi that Ama thinks he likes’
• We adopt Georgi’s (2014) approach in which a reflex-bearing head has an unvalued operator feature ([+OP:]) that can be valued in a Spec-Head relation to
an operator:
(Weak Crossover)
(Strong Crossover)
4
CP
(20)
C[OP:]
CP
(21)
TP
C[OP:+OP]
v′
wh
v
• We propose the following Vocabulary Items to capture the tonal reflex:
C′
wh
vP
T
valuing the operator feature.
vP
T
VP
(25)
TP
v′
⟨wh⟩
...
v
VIs in Asante Twi:
a. [OP:+OP] ↔ H- /
b. [OP:+OP] ↔ L- /
• A positively-valued operator feature is realized as a floating high tone in the
context of a v head, and as a floating low tone in the context of a C head.
VP
(26)
...
Tonal overwriting:
H L L
H
⇒
• Thus, we can remain agnostic about the actual nature of successive-cyclic movement, e.g. edge-feature driven (Chomsky 2000), greed-based (Bošković 2007b),
repel-driven (Stroik 2009), repair-driven (Heck & Müller 2003).
ki
(27)
• The derivation of a clause with successive-cyclic movement is as follows:
[ vP v [OP:] [ VP V wh ]]
[ vP wh [ v ′ v [OP:+OP] [ VP V <wh> ]]]
c.
[ CP wh [ C′ C[OP:+OP] ... [ vP <wh> [ v ′ v [OP:+OP] [ VP ... ]]]]]
d.
[ vP wh [ v ′ v [OP:+OP] [ VP V [ CP <wh> [ C′ C[OP:+OP] ... [ vP . . . ]]]]]]
e.
...
ki
ta
• Recall that whereas low-toned aspectual affixes undergo high tone overwriting,
tense affixes do not:
VIs in Irish (Georgi 2014:161)
a. /go/ ↔ [C]
b. /aL / ↔ [C[OP:+OP] ]
a.
b.
=
4.4 Aspect vs. tense morphemes
cen t-ursceal a mheas me [ CP a duirt se [ CP a thuig
se]]?
which novel
aL thought I
aL said he
aL understood he
‘Which novel did I think he said he understood?’
(24)
L
• This captures the alternation we previously observed.
• This will allow us to make Spell-Out of heads of phases sensitive to whether
movement has passed through them:
(23)
ta
L
=
• As a result, every verb (v+V) that is crossed by movement will be subject to high
tone overwriting, and every complementizer will undergo low tone overwriting.
• If an operator lands in the specifier of a head bearing this feature, it will value it.
(22)
v
C
a.
b.
Kofi boá-a
Afiá
Kofi help-past Afia
‘Kofi helped Afia’
Kofi na O-bóá-a
Afiá
Kofi foc 3sg-help-past Afia
‘It is Kofi who helped Afia’
(Marfo 2005:9)
• This follows from the assumption that AspP in Asante Twi is lower than vP (as
independently proposed by Kandybowicz 2015):
• At each step, the wh-phrase lands in the specifier of a phase head, thereby
5
(28)
Clause structure in Asante Twi (Kandybowicz 2015):
TP
(31)
TP
vP
T
-a
vP
T
v
v′
DP
√
H-
√
v
AspP
(32)
√
Asp
√
4.4.1
root
aP
• Movement reflexes are present in adverbial clauses, supporting the idea that
null operator movement takes place in these clauses (Geis 1970; Larson 1990;
Haegeman 2007; Zentz 2014).
vP
(33)
v
√
Asp
rè√
sere
b.
aP
DP
4.4.2
Kofi re-bisá nó
Kofi prog-ask him
‘Kofi is asking him.’
[ Opi Kofi rébísá
nó ti ná] SEbE ada
Kofi prog-ask him when Sebe sleep
‘While Kofi was asking, Sebe was asleep.’
(Kügler 2015)
• See McCloskey (2001); Zentz (2014) for reflexes in adverbial clauses in Irish and
AkOOse (Bantu: Cameroon).
√
a.
b.
c.
a.
AspP
H-
(30)
√
v+ boa ⇒ H -bòá
H
-bòà ⇒ bóá
T+[bóá] ⇒ bóá-à
5.1 Adverbial clauses
TP
T
DP
5 Further issues
DP
Derivation with aspect morpheme
(29)
a.
b.
c.
boa
aP
Asp+ sere ⇒ rè-sèrè
v+[rè-sèrè] ⇒ H -rè-sèrè
Hrè-sèrè ⇒ ré-séré
5.2 deE-constructions
Derivation with tense morpheme
• deE ’focus’ constructions lack this reflex:
(34)
a.
b.
6
Amma na O-dí-i
akutú nó.
Ama foc 3sg-eat-past orange def
‘Ama ate the orange(s) (not Kofi or Efua)’
Amma déÉ O-di-i
akutú nó.
Ama top 3sg-eat-past orange def
‘As for Ama, he ate oranges’
Acknowledgements:
We would like to thank audiences at the workshop Morphosyntactic Triggers of Tone
at Leipzig University, LingLunch at University of Connecticut, Syntax Brown Bag at
New York University and the Leipzig-Frankfurt Klausurtagung in Meiningen for
their helpful comments and feedback. This research was completed as part of the
DFG-funded graduate school Interaction of Grammatical Building Blocks (IGRA).
• However, their information-structural properties suggest that they are actually
topic clauses (e.g. no non-given information is possible, no question-answer
pairs with deE).
• deE-clauses do not show reconstruction, thereby suggesting base-generation
and not movement (see Collins 1993 for Ewe, Chung 1998).
• No movement = no reflex expected.
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6 Summary
• Tonal changes on verbs and complementizers are reflexes of successive-cyclic
movement marked on phase heads.
• Valued operator features on phase heads are realized as floating tones that trigger
overwriting.
• We assume these phase heads to be v and C, thereby supporting the standard
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7
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8