French Studies Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
January 2010
Journal
Austronesian and theoretical linguistics
Abstract
This paper analyzes specificational sentences in Malagasy and shows that such sentences involve obligatory inversion, marked by the topic particle dia. I argue that the topicalized element is a small clause predicate that inverts with its subject. Two competing analyses of this inversion are compared and contrasted. I conclude with a brief comparison of Malagasy and Tagalog.