VOICE° AND V° CAUSE: EVIDENCE OF NON-VOICE BUNDLING IN NYUNGWE

Abstract

While Marantz (1984) was the first to present the idea supporting the assumption that external arguments are not true arguments of their verbs, it was Kratzer (1996) who first developed a theory about how Marantz’s (1984) proposal can be executed in syntax. Kratzer (1996) suggested that external arguments are introduced by Voice, which has VP as its complement. Therefore, in recent studies within the Minimalist Program, Pylkkänen (2008) suggested that vP Cause and VoiceP are two independent projections in the inventory of functional heads. The aim of the present paper is to discuss non-Voice bundling parameter as proposed by Pylkkänen (2008) using data from Nyungwe, a Bantu language spoken by 457.290 people in two Mozambican provinces, namely, Tete and Manica, (SITOE and NGUNGA, 2000; NGUNGA and FAQUIR, 2011). In Nyungwe Voice° and Cause° are two functional heads projected independently.