On clitic left dislocation in Zulu.

Abstract

In (1) and (2), a clause-initial topic phrase corresponding to the object of the verb in the associated sentence is linked to a resumptive pronoun (in italics) which has incorporated into the verb as an object clitic. The object clitic agrees with the noun class (gender) of the leftdislocated DP. One of the most influential studies of clitic left dislocation in Bantu is Bresnan & Mchombo's (1987) analysis of Chichewa left (and right) dislocation. Bresnan and Mchombo treat left-dislocated phrases in constructions similar to (1) and (2) in Chichewa as extrasentential, free-floating discourse topics. According to their theory, there is no grammatical relation between the left-dislocated topic and the incorporated clitic. Instead, the dislocate is linked to the associated sentence merely through anaphoric binding of the incorporated pronoun. In this paper I want to show that, in contrast to what Bresnan and Mchombo suggest for Chichewa, the properties of Zulu clitic left dislocation are not incompatible with, but rather support, an analysis according to which the relation between the dislocate and the clitic in the associated sentence is determined by the rules of sentence grammar. More specifically, I want to provide evidence which suggests that Zulu clitic left dislocation constructions are in fact