Between agreement and case marking in Lamnso

Abstract

Lamnso, a language in the Grassfields branch of Southern Bantoid, has a system of noun classes marked by (C)V affixes that attach to the stem. Noun modifiers agree with the noun by attaching a comparable affix that matches the class. This type of NP-level concord is typical of Bantu languages. At the clausal level, (C)V markers that are identical in form to those appearing at the NP-level appear as enclitics on virtually all nouns in a sentence. Though these markers are identical, it is argued that they serve separate functions, marking agreement on subject nouns before the verb and case on oblique object nouns after the verb. Direct objects and nouns in locative expressions are not marked. Typological evidence in the form of a grammatical relations hierarchy is discussed in support of these claims.