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VP's and verb movement in Chamorro

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Abstract

Most GB analyses of VSO languages have assumed that these languages have an SVO clause structure in which surface order is derived by leftward movement of V — usually, movement of V to Infl. This paper argues that that there is another possible route to VSO-hood, which is instantiated by the VSO language Chamorro. I argue for a view of Chamorro clause structure that consists of three claims: (i) there is a predicate XP constituent separate from the subject; (ii) this predicate XP precedes the subject, in other words, the clause structure of Chamorro is fundamentally VOS; (iii) surface word order is produced not by V Movement, but by adjoining the subject to the right of some projection of a [+V] category, essentially as proposed by Choe (1986) for Berber. Evidence supporting these claims is drawn from proper government in WH-constructions, from the syntax of nonverbal predicates, and from coordination.

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Abbreviations

Agr:

possessor agreement

AP:

antipassive

Compar:

comparative

Fut:

future

i:

intransitive

Imperf:

imperfect

Infin:

infinitival inflection

Infl:

finite inflection (= the morphological spellout of the category Infl on [+V])

ir:

irrealis

L:

linker (joins modifiers to heads)

Loc:

locative morphological case

Obliq:

oblique morphological case

p:

plural

Pass:

passive

Pl:

plural

Prog:

progressive

Q:

Wh complementizer

r:

realis

Recip:

reciprocal

s:

singular

t:

transitive

1:

first person

2:

second person

3:

third person

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cowell College, UCSC, 95064, Santa Cruz, CA, U.S.A.

    Sandra Chung

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  1. Sandra Chung
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Additional information

Thanks to the Chamorro speakers who contributed to this work, especially: Manuel F. Borja and Maria M. Rosario (Saipan dialect); Felix P. Babauta, Maria T. Quinata, and the late Agnes C. Tabor (Guam dialect). Thanks also to Ann Cooreman for permission to quote from her Chamorro texts, and to David Dowty, Joseph Emonds, and James McCloskey for comments and encouragement. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the University of Arizona at Tucson and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst; I am grateful to the audiences there for comments.

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Chung, S. VP's and verb movement in Chamorro. Nat Lang Linguist Theory 8, 559–619 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00133693

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