Asymmetric Coordination in Lega-Ishile (Lega-Mwenga) D.25

This study examines asymmetric coordination in Lega-Ishile, a highly endangered Bantu language spoken in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Contrary to the common view of coordination as a symmetric structure, the analysis shows that Lega-Ishile displays systematic asymmetric and commutative coordination patterns. Based on original fieldwork data from native speakers, the study provides a sentence-level analysis of symmetric, asymmetric, and commutative coordination structures, highlighting how conjunct order and structural dominance affect interpretation and grammatical behavior. The findings demonstrate that asymmetry in coordination is grammatically encoded rather than accidental. The research contributes both to theoretical discussions on coordination and to the documentation of an endangered language, emphasizing the importance of under-described languages for refining general syntactic theory.