Adverbial and Argument-Doubling Clauses in Cree - MSpace

Chapter 5 describes the proposed treatment of subordinate clauses in Cree, and
their relationships to the matrix clause. It identifies the role of referential-linking in clausal
relations, and demonstrates how this distinction in subordinate clauses accounts for the
differences in clause behaviour. Here, we examine the issue of domains, and establish that
argument-doubling dauses are a pari of the same sentential domain as the matrix verb.
Adverbial clauses form a separate domain from the matrix verb. This chapter closes with
an explanation for the restrictions of proximate re-assignrnent between clauses.
Chapter 6 provides a summaiy of the analysis proposed in this thesis, as well as
some tiirther consequences of this treatment. In particular, this analysis provides a
succinct account of a syntactic phenomenon known as 'copying-to-object'. Topics in
need of fiuther study will also be mentioned.
1.3 Introduction to Cree as a Pronomina1 Argument Language
Cree is a member of the Algonquian language family. Narrowly defined, Cree is spoken in
nonhern Ontario, northem Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. There are four major
dialects in this region; Plains Cree, Swampy Cree, Woods Cree and Moose Cree, as well
as many minor ones. Some scholars also include Montagnais-Naskapi in the Cree family,
which is spoken in Quebec, but this is still controversial.
Dialectologias have focussed on the phonological discrepancies among these
dialects, rather than syntactic or lexical diferences. The standard example used to
illustrate this key feature is shown below, with the first person emphatic pronoun.