Parameterizing Case and Activity: Hyper-raising in Bantu
Vicki Carstens, Michael Diercks · MOspace Institutional Repository (University of Missouri) · 2009
Case theory has long played a crucial role in explaining the distribution of nominal expressions. Raising constructions are a well-established case in point (Chomsky 1981, George & Kornfilt 1981, Chomsky 2000, Chomsky 2001, among others). A raising verb may have an expletive subject and take as complement a finite clause containing a thematic subject. Many Bantu languages exhibit apparent raising out of a finite clause in a construction known as HYPER-RAISING (cf. Harford Perez 1985; and Tanaka 2002, Martin & Nunes 2005, Nunes 2008, Ura 1998, Zeller 2006 for similar problems in various languages). This paper explores HYPER-RAISING in Lubukusu and Lusaamia, two members of the Luyia subgroup of Bantu spoken in Kenya.