On the syntax of sentence final particles in Tenetehára

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to analyze the distribution of Sentence Final Particles (SFPs) in Tenetehára. They are formed by a set of functional items that occur in a rigid syntactic position in the right periphery of the sentence. The order of SFPs in this language can be formally captured if one starts from a unique base structure from which their relative order can be derived. More specifically, the proposal is that the linearization of the particles at the right is the result of the raising of the lowest particle, i.e. the raising of a projection containing an agreement particle to the specifier of a dominating projection. The proposal advanced here integrates two theoretical proposals of the Principles and Parameters Theory: Cinque’s Hierarchy (1999) and the Derivation by Phase Approach (Chomsky 2001).

Proceedings of the 5th Annual Linguistics Conference at UGA: 12–48

Published April 15, 2020