Abstract
Locative inversion patterns are instances of a non-canonical word order where a locative phrase (in a canonically SVO language) moves to preverbal position, leaving the thematic subject postverbally. There are a wide variety of morphosyntactic variations in this basic inversion pattern cross-linguistically (and even within individual languages), and the evidence suggests that different syntactic mechanisms are used in different instances to generate the same surface word orders, both in English and in various Bantu languages. Analyses and diagnostic evidence are presented for all of these languages showing that, despite the range of variation, similar syntactic mechanisms appear to be at play across languages. The non-canonical patterns that occur in locative inversion constructions raise important questions for theoretical assumptions about Case licensing, agreement, and locality in particular, and the theoretical work in those areas is addressed as well.
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