The morpho-syntax of the Naandi determiner phrase: a minimalist approach

Abstract

Studies have been done that analyze the structure of Determiner Phrases in world languages. In these studies, researchers hold varied views with regard to the number of elements and on their linear ordering patterns within the DP. Also, there is no consensus on whether the noun is the source of all the agreement features or they are distributed throughout the different functional projections within the DP. Finally, studies on DP within MP on Nilotic languages and Naandi in particular are rare. This study therefore, is a morpho-syntactic study which sought to analyze the DP in Naandi using the Minimalist Program. This study was guided by four objectives namely: to identify and describe the elements that make up the DP, to identify the linear ordering of elements within the DP, to investigate the DP-internal agreement and to apply MP’s Agree, Move and Merge operations in the analysis of the DPs in Naandi. This study was grounded within MP for Linguistic theory. Specifically, it used MP’s Merge, Move and Agree operations in the analysis of the Naandi DP. Descriptive research design was adopted. Purposive sampling was used in the choice of appropriate sentential constructions for the study. The data was collected using introspection, content analysis and participant observation. The data was then analyzed descriptively using MP. In terms of the number and linear order of elements, the study found out that there are up to eleven elements that can occur within the DP in Naandi. The noun occurs at the initial position whereas determiners and the other modifiers are post-nominal. The dominant attested order is N + [article affix] + [Dem] + [Poss] + [Q] + [Numeral] + [AP] + [GenP] + [PP] + [Rel.C]. With regard to DPinternal agreement, the study noted that number, gender, possession, definiteness and deictic phi-features are distributed throughout the different projections within the DP in Naandi. These projections include: DemP, PossP, QP, NumeP, NumP, AP, GenP, PP and Rel.C. Following the universal DP hypothesis, the researcher argues that the DP in Naandi is underlyingly head-initial and that the noun initial surface order as attested is as a result of overt noun raising out of NP to NUM and a further overt movement of the complex [NumP + N] to the Spec-position of DP. The agreement features on functional projections are checked and valued at Spec-Head probe whereas on phrasal projections they are checked and valued at Head-Head probe. It is hoped that the findings of this study will inform policy making for education and will add to the knowledge that exists in linguistic literature and be a useful reference. The morpho-syntax of the marked DP where elements of D-category are used predicatively and occur pre-nominally could be done in Naandi. Also, a study on the mopho-phonemics surrounding the definites and indefinites in Naandi could be done. Finally, studies could be done on the morpho-syntax of the DP of other language families and on other phrases such as CPs and TPs using MP.