Sammendrag
The book examines the complex NPs of Kiswahili Bantu that function as matrix NPs. Matrix NPs include coordinate NPs, coordinate-like NPs, and serial NPs. For example, in Kiswahili, possessive constructions based on the adnominal 'A' of relationship are often coordinate-like and tend to function as matrix NPs. Matrix NPs differ from ordinary NPs. The latter type normally has a single syntactic head, usually the external constituent or conjunct, that generates the agreement marker in the PC or V of its Pn-S. The former type, however, has more than one agreeing head, and each behaves independently of the other in generating agreement markers in the PC or V of its Pn-S. The book, therefore, discusses the implications of matrix NPs for argument syntax. It also draws attention to the fact that a number of Kiswahili Pn-Ss that involve matrix NPs fall within inclusive or inclusory syntax in linguistics. The study, therefore, argues that inclusive or inclusory syntax should make allowance for semantically inclusive or inclusory patterns. For example, this is relevant where the subject/object marker, although singular, is plural denoting in function. The study further looks at the effects of matrix NPs on reciprocal syntax and concludes that reciprocity in Kiswahili Bantu cannot be defined solely in terms of the logical permutations of syntactic participants in pairs of transitive construction or in terms of pairs of proposition and their logical projections. The book is relevant to the debate on the nature and relevance of argument structure, interface relations between syntactic constituents and reciprocal theory in linguistics.
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