Evidence of a configurational structure in Meskwaki

Abstract

Abstract. Meskwaki, like many polysynthetic Algonquian languages, is often analyzed as having a non-configurational structure because it exhibits the three core characteristics of non-configurationality: free word order, discontinuous expressions, and null anaphora (Hale 1983). While free surface form word order is attributed to a preverbal discourse-based hierarchy, non-topic/focus NPs are in a post-verbal, nonhierarchical XP structure (Dahlstrom 2013). This paper posits that Meskwaki has an underlying configurational syntactic structure based on novel and prior data showing (1) discontinuous NP ordering restrictions with locality constraints, (2) superiority effects in multiple wh-phrases, and (3) long-distance movement and island effects.Keywords. syntax; Meskwaki; Algonquian languages; non-configurational; configurational languages 1. Introduction. Meskwaki (Fox), a Central Plains Algonquian language (Goddard 1978), is a polysynthetic language. Polysynthetic languages obligatorily mark for both subjects and objects on the verb, which allows for many grammatical processes to be expressed in a single word through morphology (Mahieu and Tersis 2009). Verbal morphology in Meskwaki marks for the grammatical features of person, animacy, obviation, and number of subjects and objects (Dahlstrom 1993). Meskwaki utilizes a proximate/obviative nominal marking system to indicate the more discourse-prominent 3 rd person noun; proximate marked nouns are more prominent than obviative marked nouns (Thomason 2003). Proximate/obviative marking also distinguishes plurality and contrasts animate and inanimate nouns.Like many Algonquian languages, Meskwaki exhibits characteristics of non-configurationality as outlined by Hale (1983): 1) free word order, 2) null anaphora, and 3) discontinuous constituents (i.e., Dahlstrom 1995). Non-configurational languages are characterized into two groups based on their marking system: 1) head-marking (i.e., Nahuatl, Mohawk, Meskwaki) and 2) dependent-marking languages (i.e., Warlpiri, Jiwarli) (Nichols 1986). Since both head-marking and dependent-marking languages show non-configurational characteristics, nonconfigurationality does not imply polysynthesis. Additionally, while many polysynthetic languages demonstrate these non-configurational characteristics, not all do; thus, polysynthesis does not necessarily imply non-configurationality.Free word order: Since head-marking (or dependent-marking) expresses syntactic relationships, such as subject and object, word order does not express syntactic roles. Thus, elements can appear in any order without affecting the argument structure. Instead, word order often varies as a result of discourse-based information structure (Dahlstrom 1993) (1; examples from Meskwaki):