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The Conjunct Verb in Sheshatshit Montagnais

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Julie Brittain
Julie Brittain*
Affiliation:
Memorial University of Newfoundland
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Abstract

This article accounts for the distribution and the formal properties of the conjunct verb in Sheshatshit Montagnais within the theoretical model of the Minimalist Program. A subset of the syntactic environments in which the conjunct verb occurs obligatorily is examined: subordinate clauses, non-past wh-questions, and negated clauses. Wh-phrases and subordinate clauses are associated cross-linguistically with a CP projection. It is shown that the two principal negative morphemes in Sheshatshit Montagnais are also associated with a CP projection, thereby obtaining a common underlying structure for clauses requiring conjunct verbs. Central to this analysis is the claim that conjunct verbs move to the Comp position while independent verbs move to Infl. Associating conjunct and independent verbs with distinct functional categories not only predicts their distribution but also accounts for their most distinctive formal properties.

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article rend compte de la distribution et des propriétés formelles des verbes conjoints en montagnais de Sheshatshit dans le cadre théorique du Programme Minimaliste. Un sous-ensemble des environnements syntaxiques dans lesquels les verbes conjoints apparaissent obligatoirement est examiné: les phrases subordonnées, les questions-qu à un temps autre que le passé, et les phrases marquées par la négation. Les syntagmes-qu et les phrases subordonnées sont normalement associées à une projection CP. Il est montré que les deux principaux morphèmes de négation en montagnais de Sheshatshit sont aussi associés à une projection CP, ce qui permet d’obtenir une structure sous-jacente commune pour toutes les phrases qui requièrent des verbes conjoints. Cette analyse repose sur l’hypothèse que les verbes conjoints se déplacent sous Comp alors que les verbes indépendants se déplacent sous Infl. Le fait d’associer les verbes conjoints et indépendants à des catégories fonctionnelles distinctes permet non seulement de prédire leur distribution mais rend compte également de leurs propriétés formelles les plus distinctives.

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 42 , Issue 3 , September 1997 , pp. 253 - 284
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 1997

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