Subject Inversions in Lubukusu

Abstract

In this thesis, I investigate subject inversions in Lubukusu. In subject inversions, the sentence does not follow the canonical word order SVO but instead the logical subject is in a postverbal position. The subject marker of the verb can either agree with a preverbal locative when the verb is an unaccusative or with the postverbal logical subject. Furthermore, the verb shows additional locative morphology if the sentence has a preverbal locative. The logical subject stays in situ independently of the verb agreeing with it or not. In this paper, I show that the locative is base generated in the specifier of IP if the subject marker agrees with it and that the locative can only be inserted in the specifier of IP, when the verb is an unaccusative. To account for this observation, I argue that the inflectional head in Lubukusu has Time, Locative and Phi-features. While the Locative probe only probes upwards, the Phi-probe is flexible and can agree both upwards and downwards. The Phi-probe always agrees with the external argument. If no external argument is available, the probe agrees with the internal argument. This operation can be intervened by inserting a locative DP into the specifier of IP.