5
CLITICS AND R-EXPRESSIONS IN TAGALOG: ACTOR-FIRST AND SUBJECT-LAST ORDERING LOREN A. BILLINGS NATIONAL CHI NAN UNIVERSITY
Whereas Tagalog’s pre-verbal structure is well understood, post-verbal R-expressions are loosely ordered, based on vague considerations: (i) a nominal with the role of Actor appears right after the verb, and (ii) an R-expression bearing Nominative case appears last. With a non-active verb, (i) and (ii) result in a strong preference for the object to precede the subject.1 However, these generalizations can be overridden (e.g., by clause-final heavy nominals). In active clauses, however, there is no strong preference; (i) and (ii) then cancel each other out. 2 Guilfoyle et al. (1992) argue for two subject positions: [IP [I′ I [VP SpecVP V′ ] ] ] SpecIP ]. The verb moves to I, making the clause V-initial; the Actor occupies SpecVP, satisfying (i); and the subject moves to (clause-final) SpecIP, in keeping with (ii). Kroeger (1993) refutes Guilfoyle et al.’s structure on the basis that marked word orders cannot be accounted for; instead, he proposes a flat post-V structure. The strength of Kroeger’s approach lies in its flexibility, but unfortunately such a flat structure doesn’t generate any specific ordering. The ordering of R-expressions shows striking parallels to the ordering of clitics too: Tagalog categorically requires any monosyllabic pronoun to precede a disyllabic one;3 syllabic weight doesn’t correspond to any combination of syntactic features. If two clitic pronouns of the same weight co-occur, then the effect in (i) obtains (Kroeger 1993:119). All the data in the literature with equal-weight pairs of clitic pronouns (of which I am aware at least: Schachter 1973:218; Schachter and Otanes 1972:185) use passive verbs.4 In all such clauses, the Actor-first preference obtains. What hasn’t been observed is that also with clitics this strong preference disappears in active-voice clauses. Clitics (controlling for weight) are essentially like R-expressions. Alas, because of a separate non-specificity requirement on direct objects (namely, in an Actor-voice clause with no extracted subject), it is impossible to use a pronoun in an Actor-voice clause.5 To see two clitic pronouns in a non-passive clause, a non-verbal predicate—which doesn’t indicate diathesis—must be used.6 Assumptions: (A) V-to-T checks the EPP, as in Greek (Alexiadou and Anagnostopoulou 1998), raising through AgrO and AgrS. (B) Clitics are true pronouns, base-generated in vP; they raise to AgrO or AgrS. Because of multiple adjunction to either of the AgrO or AgrS heads, the LCA cannot deliver a temporal order of the clitics in the morphology. (C) The order of the clitics and verb is then adjudicated by several prosodic constraints. The cluster follows an initial verb; if there is an initial adjunct, then the clitics precede the verb. If there is a monosyllabic pronoun, it precedes a disyllabic one (Billings and Konopasky 2002, To appear). (D) Crucially, the cluster still allows for optional ordering of equal-weight pronouns. (E) Morpho-phonologically relevant features are inserted only following Spell-Out; all features irrelevant to {sound/meaning} are eliminated before {PF/LF}, respectively. In light of (E), how can the cluster—ordered entirely by PF criteria—utilize the LF information in (i) and (ii)? The Actor is first, in (i), because it is presupposed; (ii) is syntactic, corresponding to some structural position. These both entail prosodic marking. Presupposed elements are prohibited from, while the clause-final subject position requires, prosodic emphasis. Because presupposition and position are mapped first onto prosodic cues, PF constraints can refer to these cues in ordering the two clitics (of the same syllabic weight) in the cluster. Thus, we preserve autonomy of PF and LF. (An revised and expanded version of this study—entitled “Ordering clitics and postverbal R-expressions in Tagalog: a unified analysis?”—is currently under review for a separate publication.)
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1
a.
Sinulat
ni Juan
ang liham.
PERF.write
DO Juan SBJ letter
b.
?Sinulat ang liham ni
Juan.
‘Juan wrote the letter.’ [Kroeger 1993:111] 2
a.
Sumulat
si Juan
PERF.write
SBJ Juan DO letter
ng liham.
b.
Sumulat ng liham si Juan.
‘Juan wrote a letter.’ [modified from Schachter and Otanes 1972:436] 3
a.
Nakita
ko
siya.
[cf. *Nakita siya ko.]
PERF.see
1SG.DO 3SG.SBJ ‘I saw him/her.’ [Schachter and Otanes 1972:185]
b.
Nakita
ka
nila.
[cf. *Nakita nila ka.]
PERF.see
2SG.SBJ 3PL.DO ‘They saw you (Sg.).’ 4
a.
Nakita
niya
ako.
b.
?Nakita ako
niya.
PERF.see
3SG.DO 1SG.SBJ ‘He/She saw me.’ [Schachter and Otanes 1972:185] 5
6
a. a.
*Pumatay
nila
siya.
*PERF.kill
3PL.DO
3SG.SBJ (intended interpretation: ‘He/She killed them.’)
Gusto nila siya. want 3PL.DO 3SG.SBJ ‘They want him/her.’
b. b.
*Pumatay siya nila. ?Gusto siya
nila.
REFERENCES ALEXIADOU, ALEXIS, and ELENA ANAGNOSTOPOULOU. 1998. Parameterizing Agr: Word order, Vmovement, and EPP-checking. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 16: 491–539. BILLINGS, LOREN, and ABIGAIL KONOPASKY. 2002. Morphology’s role in ordering verb-adjacent clitics. Proceedings of the 21st West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, ed. by Line Mikkelsen and Christopher Potts, 29–42. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, BILLINGS, LOREN, and ABIGAIL KONOPASKY. To appear. Reassessing the role of syntax inside the morphological word: Verb-adjacent clitics in Tagalog and Bulgarian. Proceedings of the 9th Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association, ed. by Anastasia Riehl and Maria Theresa Savella. Cornell Working Papers in Linguistics 19. GUILFOYLE, EITHNE, HENRIETTA HUNG, and LISA TRAVIS. 1992. Spec of IP and Spec of VP: Two subjects in Austronesian languages. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 10:375–414. KROEGER, PAUL. 1993. Phrase structure and grammatical relations in Tagalog. Stanford: CSLI. SCHACHTER, PAUL. 1973. Constraints on clitic order in Tagalog. Parangal kay Cecilio Lopez, ed. by Andrew B. Gonzalez, 214–31. Manila: Linguistic Society of the Philippines. SCHACHTER, PAUL, and FE T. OTANES . 1972. Tagalog reference grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press.
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