Quirks of progressive clauses in Kasem

Daniel Aremu

Keywords: Progressive, bi-clausal, raising, resumption, Kasem

TL;DR: Progressive sentences in Kasem are bi-clausal and involve a raising construction.

Abstract: In this study, I investigate progressive sentences in Kasem and argue that they are bi-clausal, consisting of a locative predicate and a finite imperfective complement clause. I show that the progressive morpheme in Kasem consists of a locative copula and a distal demonstrative. As a novel contribution to the previous studies, I show that (a) progressive sentences in Kasem involve raising rather than control construction, and (b) the complement clause is at least the size of a TP (with no CP periphery). In short, the study contributes to a growing body of works on bi-clausal progressives on both empirical and theoretical grounds (see, more recently, Laka 2006, Salanova 2007, Coon 2010, Martinovic & Schwarzer 2018).

Submission Number: 156