Building Meaning in Context: A Dynamic Approach to Bantu Clause Structure

Building Meaning in Context: A Dynamic Approach to Bantu Clause Structure uses the tools of the Dynamic Syntax framework to explore morphosyntactic phenomena in a number of Bantu languages.

• Examines word order alternations, inversion constructions and negation in Bantu, showing the incremental nature of the build-up of meaning in context
• Highlights cross-linguistic parallels, drawing on data from Japanese, Korean, Romance languages and varieties of Greek
• Offers a radical new perspective on the nature of human language, showing the centrality of the concepts of underspecification and update which lie at the heart of the DS structure building process
• An innovative analysis with a broad empirical coverage

Hannah Gibson is Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Essex, UK. Prior to this, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Osaka University and a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Linguistics at SOAS, University of London. Her research is concerned with the description and analysis of linguistic variation - this includes work within the Dynamic Syntax theoretical model, as well as in the fields of syntax, morphosyntax and language contact, with a particular focus on the Bantu languages.