Deriving OV Word Order in Lɔma

Abstract

Lɔma is a Mande language of West Africa spoken in Guinea and Liberia. The Mande languages are known for the typologically unique SOVX word order. Working within an Antisymmetric framework, we argue that underlyingly the Lɔma verb phrase is head-initial and that its surface OV word order is derived via leftward movement into a Case-licensing position. We show three contexts in which the verb’s theme or material associated with the theme occur in a post-verbal position, including stranded quantifiers, CP objects and CP modifiers of DP objects, as well as stranded coordinated DP objects. We further show that only DP direct objects occur in a pre-verbal position. This analysis contributes to the growing body of research arguing for a universal head-initial verb phrase and derived OV word order.