Conjunctive and disjunctive verb forms in Setswana

Parameters of morphosyntactic variation in Bantu1

“…Although this distinction has been noted, for example, by Meeussen (1959) and Sharman (1956), it has only more recently been discussed more widely (e.g. Creissels 1996, Hyman 1999, Buell 2006, van der Wal 2006 and it is likely that the distinction will be subject to increased discussion in the future. The second parameter in the group is concerned with a tonal distinction of nouns which is often referred to as 'tone cases' (Schadeberg 1986, Blanchon 1999), but it can be seen as marking distinctions similar to the conjoint/disjoint distinction (Marten and Kavari 2006) and thus we have grouped the two together.…”

“…: 'They are writing the children a letter' Parameter 6: Can either object become subject under passivisation? YES (7) òvà-nâtjé má-vé tjàng-ér-w-á òm-bàpírà 2-children write-APPL-PASS-FV 9-letter 'The children are being written a letter' (8) òm-bàpírà má-í tjàng-ér-w-á òvà-nâtjé 9-letter PRES-SM9 write-APPL-PASS-FV 2-children 'The letter is being written for the children' Cole (1955), Creissels (1996), Demuth and Mmusi (1997) (21) fá-se-tlharé-ng gó-émé ba-símané 16-7-tree-LOC SM17-stand.PRF 2-boys 'By the tree stand the boys' (Demuth & Mmusi 1997) (22) kó-Maúng gó-tlá-ya roná maríga 17-Maung SM17-FUT-go we winter 'To Maung we shall go in winter' (Demuth & Mmusi 1997) (23) mó-le-fátshé-ng gó-fúla di-kgomo 18-5-country-LOC SM17-graze 10-cattle 'In the country are grazing the cattle' (Demuth & Mmusi 1997) Parameter 12: Is partial agreement with conjoined NPs possible?…”

3. Locating the Bantu conjoint/disjoint alternation in a typology of focus marking

“…Rather, intransitive verbs and transitive verbs that appear without a postverbal object obligatorily have their IAV position filled. This results in an 'in situ' focus reading of the verb which has been analysed in similar terms as the conjoint/disjoint alternation (Hyman and Watters 1984;Creissels 1996;Güldemann 2003;Buell 2006). The obligatory placement of the particle nò after verbs without postverbal objects can be seen in (41).…”

Distribution of Conjunctive and Disjunctive Forms in Xitsonga

“…The Postverbal Term Focus hypothesis is based on a study on Setswana (Creissels 1996). Under this hypothesis, the element following a cj form is in focus, while the element following a dj form is not in focus.…”

“…Van der Spuy (1993), Buell (2006), andHalpert (2016) propose a constituencybased approach, in which the dj form is argued to be realised when a verb lacks a complement. Drawing on Setswana, however, Creissels (1996) and subsequently Güldemann (2003) argue that the distribution of cj vs. dj forms is best to be analysed as a focus-driven phenomenon. Updating the focus-based approach, Creissels (2014) argues for an information packaging approach that relies on information theory to explain the cj/dj distribution.…”