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Abstract: This paper examines two previously undiscussed locative inversion constructions in Lubukusu (Bantu) with respect to both their theoretical and typological significance. Repeated agreement locative inversion has two distinct verbal affixes which agree with the fronted locative phrase, whereas the verb agrees with both the fronted locative and the postverbal subject in disjoint agreement locative inversion. Each critical aspect of these constructions is explored – the nature of the locative clitic that appears, the position of the fronted locative phrase, and the position of the postverbal subject – concluding that the two locative inversion constructions have very different structural properties. These different structures are then used to examine the apparently ‘downward’ agreement pattern in disjoint agreement locative inversion in light of the Upward Agreement Hypothesis, that is, the claim by Baker [The syntax of agreement and concord, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; among others] that heads in Bantu languages agree with structurally higher phrases. The analyses proposed offer insight into the place of Lubukusu locative inversion among other (Bantu) locative inversion constructions, as well as giving evidence that the apparent counter-evidence of disjoint agreement locative inversion in the end is nonetheless amenable to an ‘upward’ agreement analysis, further supporting the Upward Agreement Hypothesis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Despite exhibiting a high degree of uniformity, Bantu languages display a surprising amount of variation in extraction contexts, particularly with regard to agreement patterns. This paper examines this variation, focusing first on Bantu OVS relatives and topicalization structures in which the raised operator triggers morphological subject agreement on the verb. After critiquing accounts by and others, this paper proposes an analysis of OVS structures in which the establishment of agreement relations is delayed until the end of the derivation. I then take this account of OVS as the basis for discussing variation in the agreement properties of operator constructions across Bantu languages. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This article shows that once it is accepted that a single morpheme can lexicalize a “span” of heads rather than a single head, it becomes possible to establish the complex structures underlying noun class prefixes and agreement markers in Nguni (Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele and Swati) in a mechanical way, based on the distributional properties of the morphemes involved. These structures together with general principles of lexicalization turn out to make an accurate prediction about the syncretism patterns observed among the different types of agreement markers (concords), and we are also led to conclude that the size of nominal projections must be a locus of parametric variation, by comparing Nguni to other Southern Bamtu languages. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]