ABSTRACT
Applicative structures in Bantu have received an enormous amount of attention in the generative syntactic literature, going back to the early days of 'principles and parameters' thinking. In comparing Bantu applicatives with English double object structures, Marantz noted that, while indirect objects in English are always internal to the event described by the VP, this is not always the case with applied objects in Bantu. Research on Bantu applicatives has tended to focus on two aspects: nailing down the descriptive, typological possibilities of Bantu applicatives and their corresponding syntactic properties, and offering explanations for the typological variation. A cursory examination suggests that Chimiini and possibly all Bantu languages do not have such verbs, instead expressing the concept of instrumental manner with instrumental applicatives or prepositional phrases. Chimiini is an 'asymmetric' language, allowing only the indirect object to passivize. In some languages, for example, the vP phase might have an extra EPP-feature, allowing both lower objects to move to its specifier.
