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The form and force of Kirundi exclamatives

ORCiD logo with link | McGill University
Published online: 24 February 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lv.24010.mye
Abstract
This paper examines the syntax and semantics of two types of exclamatives in Kirundi: property exclamatives, which express surprise at the extreme degree of some property of an entity, and proposition exclamatives, which express surprise at a proposition’s truth. Though most languages have canonical clause types for declaratives, interrogatives, and imperatives, only some further distinguish exclamatives (Sadock, Jerrold & Arnold Zwicky. 1985. Speech act distinctions in syntax. In Timothy Shopen (ed.), Language typology and syntactic description, vol. 11, 155–196. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Drawing on fieldwork, I argue that the form and force of Kirundi exclamatives motivates their recognition as a true clause type. Notably, Kirundi exclamatives satisfy semantic criteria for exclamativity but take a unique form, lacking overt wh- and/or degree morphology. I propose a constructional account, in the spirit of . 2003. Exclamative Clauses: At the Syntax-Semantics Interface. Language 79(1). 39–81. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, in which exclamativity arises as the result of interaction between syntactic elements linked to factivity, general interrogative force, and focus. This paper has implications for exclamative typology and the analysis of illocutionary force at the syntax-semantics interface.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Clause types in Kirundi
    • 2.1Background on clause typing
    • 2.2The three major clause types in Kirundi
    • 2.3A fourth clause type: Exclamatives
  • 3.Semantic criteria of exclamatives
    • 3.1Two flavors of exclamative readings
    • 3.2Semantic criteria of exclamatives
      • 3.2.1Question/answer pairs
      • 3.2.2Evaluativity and surprise
      • 3.2.3Factivity
      • 3.2.4Degree
    • 3.3Summary
  • 4.The source of exclamative force in Kirundi
    • 4.1Deconstructing exclamativity in Kirundi
    • 4.2Constructing exclamativity in Kirundi
      • 4.2.1Exclamativity from ‘factive questions’
      • 4.2.2Proposition exclamatives: Factivity + question operator
      • 4.2.3Property exclamatives: Factive question + degree focus
    • 4.3Summary and extension
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations follow Leipzig glossing conventions with the following additions
  • References
References (78)
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