Comparing Reflexiveand Object marking in Lubukusu

Abstract

In this paper I comparere flexive and object marking in Lubukusu, and show that the two elements display both similarities and differences in their morphological and syntactic patterning. It is for example notable that in simple transitive sentences, the two affixesoccur between the tense marking morpheme and the verb stem and are normally in complementary distribution. In addition, both the RFM and OM occur in class 15 nominals, are doublable with a left dislocated DP, and are used with passives. On the basis of such similarities, I conclude that the affixes representa similar syntactic category characterized as an incorporated pronominal element. On the other hand, I show that there are a number of differences between the two forms which include the fact thatthe RFM occurs in class 5 nominals, while the OM is disallowed in such contexts, the RFM is possible with another RFM on the same verb whereas only one OMis allowed on a verb at any given time. I argue that such differences support the thesis that the RFM and the OM attach to different positions in the syntactic derivation, with the RFM occurring lower than the OM.