The clause structure of Malagasy : a minimalist approach

Abstract

This thesis explores the clause structure and word order of Malagasy within the framework of Chomsky’s (1995) Minimalist Program and Kayne’s (1994) Antisymmetry Theory. In particular, I focus on the status of the clause-final external argument (EA), conventionally analyzed as a nominative case-marked subject. I consider two major questions about this constituent: What hierarchical position does the EA occupy in the clause structure, and why does it surface in a right-peripheral linear position, following the predicate? With regard to its syntactic status, I argue that the EA is not a subject, but a topic, similar in its distribution to clause-initial topics in verb-second languages like Icelandic. I propose that EAs undergo A′-movement to the specifier of a TopP (topic phrase) projection, located above tense and below the position of the complementizer. Concerning word order, I show that the right-peripheral position of the EA can be derived via leftward movement of the predicate phrase over the EA in SpecTopP, in a manner consistent with Kayne’s Linear Correspondence Axiom. I suggest that predicate-fronting is triggered by the same lexical requirements responsible for T-toC raising in Icelandic and other languages. The difference is that in Malagasy, unlike in Icelandic, T does not constitute an independent morphological word, and so it cannot be moved without causing the derivation to crash at PF. Since T-movement is unavailable, TP-movement is employed instead. Malagasy may thus be regarded as the phrasal-movement analogue of a verb-second language. The manuscript is divided into four chapters. In chapter 1 I summarize my analysis and discuss my theoretical assumptions. In chapter 2 I give an overview of Malagasy word order, clause structure, and morphology. I also offer a tentative treatment of the Malagasy voicing system, which I equate with wh-agreement in Chamorro and other languages. In chapter 3 I present evidence from reconstruction and locality effects to show that the EA position behaves as an A′position rather than a case position, strongly suggesting that the EA is a topic-like element rather than a subject. I also provide an alternative analysis of the well-known wh-extraction restriction in Malagasy. Finally in chapter 4 I discuss my XP-movement analysis of EA-final word order. I cite evidence in favor of this analysis from two domains, speech-act particle placement and word order in embedded clauses.