Adverbial and Argument-Doubling Clauses in Cree - MSpace

5.4 Argument-Doubling Clauses
As its name suggests, this type of subordinate clause is construed with one of the
pronominal arguments cf the matrk verb. This is represented by referential-linkuig. This
section will address how this linking is accomplished.
I argue that an r-linking relationship between the pronominal argument in the
matrix verbal complex and the subordinate CP is not possible. I claim that argumentdoubling
clauses are unlike English complement clauses, where we Say that a transitive
verb 'selects' a CP complement. I propose that Cree verbs do not select CP complements,
but always have their argument arrays filled by pronorninals within the verbal complex.
Furthemore, these pronominals cannot be directly linked to a clause, unlike NPs. We
cannot co-index entities that belong to different categones. Subordinate clauses are CPs,
while the pronominal argument, pro, is an NP. Evidence that a pronominal argument is
nominal cornes from the fact that pro can be co-indexed to nouns, i.e., these two entities
belong to the same category."
I propose that A-doubling clauses are contained inside a larger NP. This ensures
that there is an NP which can be co-indexed with a pronominal argument in the matrix
verb. An abstract representation of this structure is given below in (87). The pronominal
In claiming that only like categories can be r-linked, 1 follow Baker (1996). At this junctwe however,
there is no concrete evidence for this assumption, and it could be that an r-linking relationship is possr'ble
benveen a pro and the CP. In this case, the A-doubling clause would be able to be dircctiy linkcd to the
argument, which would capture the construaI relationship. At the preset time, however, 1 propose that A-
doubling clauses are contained within an NP, thereby allo~ing for r-linking between like categories.