NULL HEADS AND DP-INTERNAL CONCORD IN BARI

Abstract

This paper provides evidence from Bari, an Eastern Nilotic language found in
the southern Sudan, that not all that are known as ‘Determiners’ are
generated in the D-head of DP as has been advocated by Abney (1987) and
others. In agreement with Guisti (1992); Guisti and Giuliana (1994) and
Szablocsi (1987), the paper argues that ‘determiners’ do not constitute one
homogeneous categorial and structural group. It shows that co-occurrence
of determiners in DP is due to the fact that these elements are generated in
different positions and therefore target different positions within DP. It
claims that that is the case because DP, at least in Bari, contains Xmax
intermediate projections between D and the complement of NP which hosts
the determiners. These intermediate Xmax projections are obligatorily
selected each time the modified head N selects a modifier. The paper
further claims that the heads of these projections, including the D-head of
DP, are null and that the so-called determiners and other modifiers such as
adjectives are base-generated in Spec-positions in DP and other embedded
complement projections within DP. These null heads are targets of N
movement of the modified head noun which rises head-to-head, triggering
widespread Spec-Head agreement within DP and other complement
projections embedded in DP. Since the determiners are generated in Specprojections, this Spec-head relation, the paper argues, accounts for why a
modifying determiner or adjective agrees in number and gender with the
head noun it modifies.