Verb‐Initial Word Orders, Primarily in Austronesian and Mayan Languages

Abstract

This chapter presents several approaches to the syntax of verb‐initial (V1) languages with a special emphasis on Mayan and Austronesian languages. Some V1 languages are strictly VSO, others are VOS, and a significant number combine both orders. This chapter focuses on data from VSO/VOS languages and the factors that underlie these alternations. A number of V1 languages can be more adequately characterized as predicate‐initial, with V1 representing just a subset of possible clause‐initial predicates. The chapter presents a number of structural properties that are or may be associated with V1 and discusses possible implicational relations between such properties and V1. While there are certain common characteristics observed across V1 languages, it is also clear that there are several distinct subtypes of V1. These subtypes call for different syntactic analyses; main approaches include the derivation of V1 via phrasal movement (VP‐raising) and via head‐movement (verb‐raising). Other syntactic approaches to the derivation of V1 include the parametrization of specifier direction within a single language, non‐configurational syntax, and subject lowering. In addition to these purely syntactic analyses, several recent approaches place the derivation of V1 outside syntax or at the syntax–PF interface. Careful, in‐depth analyses of individual languages are required to test the different approaches to V1; in quite a few cases such analyses are still lacking.

V1 in Kipsigis: Head movement and discourse-based scrambling

“…19 In Kipsigis, the verb head-moves to α-the highest inflectional projection-to generate V1. Our conclusion about the relatively high position of the verb contrasts with several existing analyses of V1 languages, in which the verb surfaces at T or below (see Richards 2000;Massam 2001;Rackowski 2002;Aldridge 2004;Coon 2010;Clemens & Polinsky 2017;Clemens & Coon 2018;a.o.). There are, however, many exceptions; for instance, Richards (1996) puts the Tagalog verb above TP, as does McCloskey (2017) for Irish.…”

“…As in many other languages, Kipsigis verbs represent just one type of sentence-initial predicate (see Clemens & Polinsky 2017 and references therein). Non-verbal predicates-NP (8a), AP (8b), and locations (8c)-all appear in the clause-initial position, though for convenience we continue to label the Kipsigis word order pattern verb-initial (V1): big.pl goats-these 'These goats are big.'…”

“…For a general overview of approaches to verb-initial syntax, we refer readers to Carnie & Guilfoyle (2000), Carnie et al (2005), Chung (2017), and Clemens & Polinsky (2017). There are two common movement-driven analyses of V1: those that rely on head movement and those that rely on phrasal movement.…”

Mayan Morphosyntax

“…Larsen (), for example, gives VOS as the most basic order in K'iche’, noting that it is extremely rare in actual discourse. See Clemens, ; Clemens and Polinsky, to appear for a theoretical discussion of verb‐initial word order with focus on Mayan.…”

The <i>Agreement Theta Generalization</i>

“…A reviewer raises the question of whether or not the kind of phrases typically headed by agreement probes (vP/VP, TP) generally undergo movement out of their base positions. In this regard, it is worth noting that vP/VP-fronting is a common derivation of verb-initial languages(Clemens & Polinsky 2017).…”