Sources of (A)symmetry in Bantu double object constructions

Abstract

For more than thirty years, symmetrical and asymmetrical object constructions have been a classictopic in the syntax of Bantu languages and beyond, at least since controversies in the Relational Grammar literature over whether clauses must have a unique direct object or not. In these terms, the Lubukusu language, from the Luyia group of Western Kenya seems to be a rather canonical “symmetrical object language” (Diercks and Sikuku, 2011), much like Kinyarwanda (Kimenyi, 1980) and Kichaga (Bresnan and Moshi, 1990). For example, (1) illustrates a double object construction (DOC) that results from adding the causative suffix -esy to a transitive verb root. (1) also shows that either the causee object or the theme object can come before the other object in such a construction. (2) shows that either the causee or the theme can become the subject of the passive of the causative verb. (3) shows that either the causee or the theme argument (but not both) can be expressed as an object marker (OM)—a kind of pronominal clitic prefixed before the verb stem