Morphosyntactic Structure of Lutachoni Verb Phrase

Abstract

This study describes the morphosyntactic structure of the Lutachoni verb phrase (VP). It investigates the morphosyntactic behaviour of both inflectional and derivational morphemes which are internal features of the VP. It describes their morphological forms and resultant variations of the elements within the VP. The study also establishes the patterning of these elements and their effect on morphosyntax of Lutachoni VP. The nature of the verb determines its constituents.The study adopts Chomsky’s Principles and Parameters (PP) theoretical framework as an analytical tool to predict and account for the morphosyntactic structure of the Lutachoni VP. It tests the applicability of PP in the description of other natural languages apart from English and Romance languages. Modules applied in the study include government, X-bar theory, theta theory, case theory and Feature checking theory. The study seeks to answer the following research questions: Which constituents form the VP in Lutachoni syntax? What are the forms of elements affixed on the verb root? How are the elements within the VP licensed? What are the co-occurrence restrictions? What is the role play of morphemes affixed on the verb on Lutachoni VP syntax? Furthermore, how does the PP theoretical framework account for the Lutachoni VP structure? Data analysed was generated by the researcher who is a native speaker. The generated data was then verified by a sample of adult Lutachoni native speakers to avoid subjectivity and to make it authentic and more reliable. Morphological listings of the VP were done and conventional tree diagrams were used to analyze data. From the analysis, it was established that the affixation process in Lutachoni is very productive. Elements which are internal features of the complex verb are realized in a variety of forms based on their function and syntactic environment. Ordering of affixes is also unique. Morphemes are affixed either to the left or right of the verb head. Morphemes marking negation, subject agreement, future, distant past tense, object pronominal morphemes and reflexive are prefixed on the verb. Derivational morphemes marking reciprocal, passive, causative, applicative, causative-reciprocal and applicative-passive are conjugated to the right of the verb head. The derivational morphemes are valence adjusting affixes that affect the Lutachoni VP syntax by decreasing or increasing the number of arguments. Causative and applicative morphemes transitivise the verb while reciprocal, reflexive and passive detransitivise the verb. The elements to be patterned in the VP are dependent on the syntagmatic and paradigmatic restrictions. The Principles and Parameters sub-theories can account for language universal principles and parametric features such as verb arguments and the morphemes embedded in the verb that affects the VP structure.