Resolving conflicts between locality and anti-locality: Evidence from Luganda and Haya

Authors

  • Kenyon Branan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3765/plsa.v4i1.4527

Keywords:

syntax, locality, passive, anti-locality, Bantu

Abstract

It has been proposed that grammars generally prefer to make the shortest possible move [Shortest], given the choice between two or more movers. It has also been proposed that there are general bans on movement which is in some sense too short [anti-locality]. What happens when the shortest move is too short? In this paper, I argue that elements which cannot move as a result of anti-locality are rendered irrele- vant for Shortest, and show that this provides a novel account of patterns of symmetry and asymmetry in Luganda and Haya passives. There we will see a curious pattern: internal arguments may move across no more than one other postverbal argument. The theory developed leads to a simple explanation of these effects. Movement of one ele- ment across another indicates that the crossed element is too close to the landing site to undergo movement; but given a particular definition of anti-locality, only one element may be anti-local to a given landing site.

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Published

2019-03-15

How to Cite

Branan, Kenyon. 2019. “Resolving Conflicts Between Locality and Anti-Locality: Evidence from Luganda and Haya”. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America 4 (1): 47:1–14. https://doi.org/10.3765/plsa.v4i1.4527.