Deconstructing switchreference

Authors: Stefan Keine

Publish Date: 2013/05/21

Volume: 31, Issue: 3, Pages: 767-826

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Abstract

This paper develops a new view on switchreference a phenomenon commonly taken to involve a morphological marker on a verb indicating whether the subject of this verb is coreferent with or disjoint from the subject of another verb I propose a new structural source of switchreference marking which centers around coordination at different heights of the clausal structure coupled with distinct morphological realizations of the syntactic coordination head Conjunction of two VPs has two independent consequences First only a single external argument is projected second the coordinator head is realized by some marker A the ‘same subject’ marker Conjunction of two vPs by contrast leads to projection of two independent external arguments and a different realization of the coordination by a marker B the ‘different subject’ marker The hallmark properties of this analysis are that i subject identity or disjointness is only indirectly tied to the switchreference markers furnishing a straightforward account of cases where this correlation breaks down ii switchreference does not operate across fully developed clauses which accounts for the widely observed featural defectiveness of switchreference clauses iii ‘same subject’ and ‘different subject’ constructions differ in their syntactic structure thus accommodating cases where the choice of the switchreference markers has an impact on event structure The analysis is mainly developed on the basis of evidence from the Mexican language Seri the Papuan language Amele and the NorthAmerican language Kiowa

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