The Clause-Typing System of Plains Cree: Indexicality, Anaphoricity, and Contrast by Clare Cook (review)

Abstract

Like most of the Algonquian family, the Cree-Innu-Naskapi language continuum displays a contrast between two parallel sets of verb inflection: the “independent order,” which occurs canonically in main clauses, and the “conjunct order,” which occurs canonically in subordinate clauses, but can occur in main clauses as well. The conditioning of the independent-conjunct contrast is one of the most difficult problems in Algonquian linguistics. Prior to the appearance of the work under review, the most extensive study of the independent-conjunct contrast in Cree-Innu-Naskapi was Julie Brittain’s 2001 book The Morphosyntax of the Algonquian Conjunct Verb, which focused on Western Naskapi (see also Brittain 1997, 1999). Clare Cook’s book, a revision of her dissertation (Cook 2008), differs from Brittain’s work not only in its focus on Plains Cree, which lies at the opposite end of the language continuum, but also in its goals: while Brittain (2001) is concerned primarily with the syntactic structure that underlies the independentconjunct contrast, Cook (2014) focuses on the meanings that the contrast serves to indicate as revealed through extensive and thoughtful fieldwork and textual analysis. The result is a rich description and compelling theoretical account of the use of independent and conjunct verb forms together with a variety of other related elements such as the often neglected preverbs. Chapter 1, “Introduction: Indexical versus Anaphoric Clauses,” states Cook’s central proposal, which is that Plains Cree employs the independent-conjunct contrast to signal the difference between two clause types. The independent order encodes indexical clauses, which, like indexical pronouns such as you in the sentence Sue saw you, are interpreted with respect to the speech situation. The conjunct order encodes anaphoric clauses, which, like anaphoric pronouns such as her in Suei said that you saw her i, are interpreted with respect to some other element. The extension of the notions of indexicality and anaphoricity from pronominal reference to clause typing is the key theoretical innovation of Cook’s work. Chapter 2, “Mapping Indexical and Anaphoric CPs onto Plains Cree’s Morphosyntax,” sets out a syntactic model of Plains Cree clause structure that will provide a backdrop for the discussions in the following chapters. It is proposed that the Plains Cree verbal complex instantiates an entire CP (i.e., it encompasses the syntactic structure of an entire clause) in both the independent and conjunct. The clause-typing preverbs that occur in the conjunct are analyzed as C, the head of the clause, while the person proclitics that occur in the independent are analyzed as specifiers of CP. The status of the person proclitics in the analysis is not fully clear. Cook states that the indexicality of independent clauses is the result of a speech-situation variable in the specifier of CP (p. 14). Given that the specifier of CP is the proposed location of the person proclitic, it would seem that Cook regards the proclitic itself as the realization of the speech-situation variable. This is difficult to reconcile, however, with the fact that the speech-situation variable is always anchored to the speaker, whereas the proclitic can index either the speaker (first person ni¤) or the addressee (second person ki¤). It may be preferable to regard the proclitic simply as an agreement marker with no connection to the speechsituation variable. This modification would not undermine Cook’s overall analysis, as