Seminar Series: Abstract

15.30
February 27 2009
Seminar Room C

One configurationality and word class
Mark Donohue, Linguistics, RSPAS

Configurationality is a relevant factor for most levels of most clauses in One, a Papuan language of New Guinea, but not for all. We find that clauses follow a strict, almost templatic, construction when the predicate is verbal, but show free ordering and the absence of elaborative possibilities with nonverbal predicates. Similarly, NPs are extremely nonconfigurational in the absence of (verb-headed) relative clauses, but the entire NP is strictly configurational when a relative clause is present. After describing this lexical category-dependent split in the parameter [±configurational] I conclude that functional explanations involving the notions of complexity and interpretability are best suited to account for the variation in One.