The optionality of movement and EPP in Dholuo

• Published in: Natural language and linguistic theory Vol. 30; no. 3; pp. 651 - 697
• Main Author: Cable, Seth
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01.08.2012; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agreement; Chomsky, Noam; Descriptive studies and applied theories; Expletives; Extended Projection Principle; Functional Heads; Generalization; Grammatical clauses; Idioms; Language; Linguistics; Luo languages; Movement; Natural Language Processing (NLP); Nilo Saharan Languages; Noun phrases; Philosophy of Language; Pronouns; Sentence structure; Sentences; Social Sciences; Syntactic Analysis; Syntactic movement; Syntax; Theoretical Linguistics; Verbs; Kenya; United States > US; Massachusetts; Subject positions; EPP; Dholuo; Post-verbal subjects; Optional wh-movement; Agreement locality; Syntactic position; Wh-movement; Extended projection principle; Generative syntax; Grammatical subject

This paper argues that the relatively free position of subjects in Dholuo (Nilo-Saharan; Kenya, Tanzania) provides remarkably clear evidence that the specifier positions of preverbal functional projections in the language need not be filled. In this sense, the language provides direct evidence for a...