Open AccessLocative Inversion as an Alternation Phenomenon in Setswana: The Case of Lexical Functional Grammar Theory
Author(s) -
Setumile Morapedi
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of law and social sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2226-6402
DOI - 10.53974/unza.jlss.4.2.467
Subject(s) - locative case , noun phrase , linguistics , phenomenon , determiner phrase , computer science , phrase , sentence , phrase structure rules , grammar , inversion (geology) , artificial intelligence , natural language processing , noun , philosophy , paleontology , epistemology , structural basin , biology
The paper has examined locative inversion constructions in Setswana, showing that the pre-posed locative phrase in these constructions is not the subject as it is viewed by other linguists in the literature. It has been argued, in this paper, that locative phrase occurs in the sentence initial position to perform the topic function which sets the scene for the focused noun phrase that alternates with it (locative phrase). The analysis has been achieved through information structure approach, showing the locative phrase that occurs in sentence initial position is a discourse phenomenon showing given information, and that the focused post-verbal noun phrase is new information that is emphasised on. Also, an appeal is made to Lexical Functional Grammar Approach to explain different ways of representing syntactic structures such as constituent structure and the functional structure.