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Existentials and Partitives in Malagasy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Ileana Paul
Ileana Paul*
Affiliation:
McGill University
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Abstract

This article discusses the existential construction in Malagasy, focussing on the distribution and interpretation of nominals. It is argued that the existential construction involves the raising of specific NPs out of the small clause complement of the existential verb misy. Nonspecific NPs, on the other hand, are shown to remain within the complement. That raising correlates with interpretation provides evidence in favour of the Mapping Hypothesis of Diesing (1992). Although the syntactic analysis accounts for the specific/nonspecific distribution in the existential construction, it leaves unexplained the precise interpretation of the specific NP, which may be either partitive, possessive, or locative. This article therefore argues for a relation, PARTITIVE, which unites these three readings.

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article décrit la construction existentielle en malgache et rend compte de la distribution et de l’interprétation des syntagmes nominaux. Il est montré que les syntagmes nominaux spécifiques se déplacent à l’extérieur de la petite proposition complément du verbe existentiel misy alors que les syntagmes nominaux non-spécifiques demeurent dans leur position de base. Cette corrélation entre la position des syntagmes nominaux et leur interprétation appuie l’hypothèse d’appariement (Mapping Hypothesis) de Diesing (1992). Cependant, cette analyse structurale ne rend pas compte de l’interprétation précise attribuée aux syntagmes nominaux spécifiques, qu’il s’agisse de l’interprétation partitive, possessive ou locative. Afin d’unifier ces trois interprétations, la relation sémantique PARTITIVE est proposée.

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 43 , Special Issue 3-4: Arguments and Structure in Austronesian Languages , December 1998 , pp. 377 - 409
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 1998

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