On Prosodic Vacuity and Verbal Resumption in Asante Twi

Abstract

I argue that verbal resumption (the occurrence of an additional default verbal element yε meaning ‘do’) in Asante Twi is prosodically conditioned. Following the MATCH theory of syntactic-prosodic constituency correspondence ( Selkirk 2011 ), I propose that phonosyntactic constituency matching requires, at the minimum, avoidance of phonetically empty transferred syntactic structures (i.e., prosodic vacuity). I show that Twi verbal resumption is highly constrained and occurs precisely in those contexts where a prosodically vacuous domain would otherwise be mapped from a fully evacuated syntactic Spell- Out domain. As a measure of last resort, a late default-form insertion of the verb root (the yε-form) occurs to evade prosodic vacuity and ensure a matching correspondence between syntactic and prosodic constituents at PF. Because an additional higher copy of the verb root (i.e., the lexical verb) survives as well, Twi verbal resumption represents an instance of multiple copy Spell-Out. The article thus bears on several issues concerning the syntax-phonology interface, among them the nature of prosodic mapping and the conditions regulating multiple copy realization.

Simplifying M<small>ATCH</small> W<small>ORD</small>: Evidence from English functional categories

“… See Nespor & Vogel (1986);Anderson (2008);Elfner (2012;;Kandybowicz (2015) andSelkirk & Lee (2015), among others, for discussion of the non-prosodification of null categories.…”

Doubling and <i>do</i>-support in verbal fronting: Towards a typology of repair operations

“…The derivation of VP fronting in Asante Twi (24-c) proceeds similarly to the German one as illustrated in (28), which is based on the clause structure suggested by Kandybowicz (2015). In syntax (28-a), subject and VP move to SpecTP and SpecCP respectively.…”

“…The reasoning that led to (9) thus must be flawed in one of two ways: either (i) it is not a priori the most economical way for a language to use one and the same repair mechanism for both V and VP fronting, or (ii) both V and VP fronting are very different phenomena within a language and across languages such that conclusions cannot be drawn between them and any expectations for what should occur 3 Note that there is a phonologically and semantically similar element (y)ɛ 'do, make, be' which as Kandybowicz (2015) argues is inserted whenever AspP (a projection inbetween vP and VP in Asante Twi) has been fully evacuated. As this evacuation also takes place in VP fronting where the VP is moved away from below AspP, one expects (y)ɛ in these contexts.…”

“…Concerning Asante Twi, Kandybowicz (2015) argues that V moves to T unless an overt/contentful head (e.g. Aspect) intervenes and that the V+T complex is realized by 8 There is a simplification here: Landau (2006) convincingly argues that the constituent that is fronted in Hebrew VP fronting is vP rather than VP.…”

“…11 Kandybowicz's generalization that "verbs raise to T 0 unless blocked by an overt/contentful head" (Kandybowicz 2015: 249) provides a nice argument for post-syntactic head (or at least verb) movement. In a late insertion approach to morphology phonological information becomes available only after syntax.…”