Licensing and anaphora in Tenyidie

Abstract

Tenyidie shows a typologically unusual pattern of φ-covarying agreement with anaphors, but not other arguments. We argue that this apparent agreement actually reveals the nature of anaphoric binding in the language, which involves an Agree relation between the anaphor and its antecedent mediated by a licensing head. The features on this mediating head are realized overtly in Tenyidie. This is not genuine φ-agreement, but rather a morphological reflex of the binding relation itself. We provide supporting evidence from a range of constructions and also show how this analysis accounts for restrictions on anaphora in double object constructions. Tenyidie therefore suggests that there is a close link between binding and Agree.