A Rizzian analysis of the left periphery in Sewama Mende

Rizzi (1997, 2001) proposes a universal structure for the left periphery. In this paperI show that data from Mende, a Mande language spoken in Sierra Leone, supportsRizzi’s analysis. I show that the Mende left periphery is bracketed by Force andFinite Phrases, with Focus, and Topic constructions between. I further propose thatall the functional heads in the left periphery in Mende are head-initial with surfacevariations resulting from movement of focused and topicalized constituents intothe specifier positions of their respective heads.里齐（Rizzi）于1997年、2001年提出了适用于左外围（left periphery）的普遍句法结构框架。本文以塞拉利昂境内使用的曼德语族（Mande）语言门德语（Mende）的语料为基础，验证了里齐分析的合理性。研究表明，门德语的左外围由强制短语（Force Phrase）与定式短语（Finite Phrase）界定，二者之间嵌入焦点（Focus）结构与话题（Topic）结构。此外，本文进一步提出，门德语左外围的所有功能中心语（functional heads）均采用中心语前置（head-initial）结构，其表层形式变异源于焦点化与话题化的句法成分移位至各自中心语的标志语位置（specifier positions）所产生的句法效应。