The Applicative construction and Object symmetry in Kiswahili and Maragoli

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.