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Agree and Epp in Bantu

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Abstract

C agrees in the φ-features of an operator in its Spec but not one in situ in many Bantu languages. Despite this I argue that a closest c-command based account (Chomsky 2000) is superior to a Spec–head agreement analysis, for two reasons. First, feature-valuation under closest c-command permits a unified treatment of Bantu operator agreement and West Germanic complementizer agreement with subjects. Second, it explains a common requirement that subjects be in situin Bantu A′-movement constructions: a subject raised to Spec, TP would intervene between C’s φ-features and the operator in outer Spec, vP that must value them. Like wh-movement, subject raising always coincides with agreement in Bantu; I propose that Bantu uninterpretable φ-features have EPP features. These are distinct from the classical EPP of T which, I argue, underlies a verbal agreement requirement giving every Bantu inflectional category a specifier. I show that nominative Case-checking is independent of both agreement and EPP in Bantu.

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  1. Department of English, University of Missouri-Columbia, 107 Tate Hall, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA

    Vicki Carstens

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*This paper could not have been written without Kasangati Kinyalolo’s generous assistance with the Kilega language. I am most grateful to him, to Marcel den Dikken, and to three anonymous reviewers for comments that improved the paper substantially. My research was supported by a grant from the Missouri Research Board.

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Carstens, V. Agree and Epp in Bantu. Nat Lang Linguist Theory 23, 219–279 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-004-0996-6

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