The morphosyntax of Lubukusu locative inversion and the parameterization of Agree

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.