Intra-paradigmatic variation in Eleme verbal agreement

Bond, O.

Abstract

Mismatches in the morphosyntactic features of controllers and targets in the Eleme (Ogonoid, Niger-Congo) participant reference system allow for a subject agreement paradigm in which the person of the grammatical subject is indicated by a verbal prefix, while plural number is marked by a suffix on different targets — either lexical verbs or auxiliaries — based on the person value of the controller. I examine the distribution of Eleme ‘Default Subject’ agreement affixes and the intra-paradigmatic asymmetry found between second-person plural and third-person plural subjects in Auxiliary Verb Constructions (AVC) and Serial Verb Constructions (SVC). I argue that the criteria by which the various agreement affixes select an appropriate morphological host can be modelled in terms of agreement prerequisites even when distributional variation is paradigm internal.

Citation

Bond, O. (2010). Intra-paradigmatic variation in Eleme verbal agreement. Studies in Language, 34(1), 1-35. https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.34.1.01bon

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2010
• Deposit Date: Nov 10, 2011
• Journal: Studies in Language
• Print ISSN: 0378-4177
• Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 34
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 1-35
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.34.1.01bon
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/sl.34.1.01bon