Abstract:
Many Bantu languages have recently been used in studying syntactic theory and there
is much debate concerning double objects in applicative constructions and the
symmetry, or lack of it, which can be observed operating on the object. It is currently
argued that generative and relational grammars are unable to account for the
complexity of such object behaviour. It would appear that object symmetry depends
to some degree on the precise family that the language belongs to. This paper
therefore investigates the applicative construction and object symmetry in two Bantu
languages from different families, KiSwahili from Bantu (G40) and Maragoli from
Bantu (130). I shall refer to two syntactic theories which deal with the applicative
construction and object symmetry, Relational Grammar and Lexical Functional
Grammar.
