Morphosyntactic Marking of Focus

Subject–Object Asymmetries in Bantu

Bibliographic Data

ID19487527
AuthorsPaul Roger Bassong (0009-0004-9244-5302, Université de Yaoundé I, corresponding author), Edmond Ossoko (Université de Yaoundé I), Laura Rizzi (0000-0003-4877-9861, University of Siena, corresponding author), Luigi Rizzi (Chaire de Linguistique Générale, Collège de France, 75005 Paris, France)
Year2026
Volume11
Issue5
Pages92
Publication date2026-05-06
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguages (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2226-471X • E-ISSN: 2226-471X
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/languages11050092
OpenAlexW7160415255
LanguageEN
References cited28

In many African languages, there exists a type of subject–object asymmetry by which subject focus must be expressed by A-bar movement to a morphologically marked left peripheral position whereas object focalisation can be expressed by movement and morphological marking in the left periphery, or in situ. In this article, we discuss and analyse this structural asymmetry in the Bantu languages Basaá and Mmaala. We argue that overt and covert movement of the focused object to Spec-FocP in the left periphery is allowed while covert movement of the subject is blocked, so that overt movement is the only possible option. Contrary to previous analyses, which attribute the obligatoriness of subject focus movement and marking to an interpretive conflict, we propose a formal characterisation of this phenomenon by which the blocking of subject focalisation in situ is deduced from criterial freezing, so that overt movement to the left periphery is the only option, through a familiar strategy of overt subject extraction

Bantu languages · Covert · Focus (optics) · Movement (music) · Object (grammar) · Subject (documents) · Categorization, perception, and language · Multisensory perception and integration · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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