Sammendrag
The book argues that because of the patterns in the language, the reflexive functional marker (RFM) JI must be an independent NP that is not obligatorily bound by a subject NP. To support these claims, the book reveals that in Kiswahili, the subject of a reflexive PC may undergo demotion to become an object AGENT (OA) through entailment operations. The subject position is then occupied by a locative NP and it is not bound by RFM JI. On the contrary, it is the object agent which appears to bind RFM {ji}. The work shows that the claim that locative NPs are obliques or adverbials is not defensible since a locative subject NP can also be bound by RFM JI. The evidence, therefore, illustrates that the subject of a reflexive sentence is not necessarily an agent or patient in Kiswahili. The work demonstrates that reflexive anaphors are not obligatorily bound to antecedent NPs as claimed in grammatical and linguistic papers. The binder may be a postcedent NP in object position. The book further demonstrates that subject NPs may bind object NPs that are repeated NPs, whether or not RFM JI is present. The book concludes that, on the basis of the evidence in Kiswahili, current views about anaphor reflexive binding in syntax lack explanatory relevance as universal theoretical claims. The findings refute, therefore, the theorical basis of reflexive syntax in grammars today and proposes new approaches to the subject in formal syntax and in Kiswahili.
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