Abstract:
This paper argues that the T-to-C movement that has been proposed for Polynesian languages like
Tongan and Samoan (Otsuka 2005, Collins 2017) is in fact TAM-to-Fin movement in Tokelauan.
We come to this conclusion as certain Tokelauan complementisers can never co-occur with TAM
particles while other complementisers can. Adopting the analysis of Custis (2004) and Collins
(2017) that TAM particles do not co-occur with complementisers because they compete for the same
syntactic slot, we propose a finer left periphery for Tokelauan (à la Rizzi 1997) where
complementisers like pe/kāfai, which can co-occur with complementisers, occupy the Force-head
and do not compete with the TAM particle. Complementisers like ke/oi, which cannot co-occur with
complementisers, are generated in the Fin-head, a position that the TAM competes for as well.