Subject Encoding In Limbum

Abstract

This paper presents novel data from the understudied Grassfields Bantu language Limbum (Cameroon) showing three interrelated asymmetries within the realm of subject marking. The first is a dependency of overt subject marking on number and category of the subject. The second concerns the apparent absence of subject resumption for third person plural while it is obligatory in all other cases. The third asymmetry is found with focus-marked subjects where subject marking is dependent on the type of focus-marking. It will be argued that the first asymmetry can be understood in terms of differential subject marking, while the second one is due to a weak/strong distinction in pronouns. The last asymmetry is derived from the first in interaction with a structural ambiguity in subject focus constructions.