The Logophoric Complementizer in Laz

Abstract

This study investigates the two phenomena associated with the logophoric complementizer in Laz which is used to introduce the propositional complements of speech and thought predicates, namely the allomorphy based on the person and number features of the matrix subject and the indexical shifting observed for the pronominal elements in the embedded clause. We will argue that the allomorphy is the morphological reflection of the identity of the external speaker and the attitude holder and it cannot be analyzed as a case of phi-feature agreement. As for the indexical shifting we will adopt the operator account of Sudo (2010).

Keywords

• Logophoric complementizer
• indexical shifting
• verbs of speech
• verbs of thought