Partitives, Case, and licensing in Kinande

Abstract

Abstract This chapter addresses the problem of Case licensing in the Bantu language Kinande through the examination of a less discussed construction, the so-called sociative causative. Of particular interest is the special syntactic behaviour of the theme in this type of causative, such as the impossibility of asymmetric ordering with other internal arguments or blocking of passivization. It is shown that an account which presupposes the necessity of abstract nominal licensing (on the theme) can derive the facts correctly. Additionally, the chapter contains a thorough examination of other morphosyntactic properties of the sociative causative, among which locative morphology on the theme which is not interpreted as a locative semantically. It thus also contributes to typological studies on a rarely discussed type of causative.