Bondarenko, MSU
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24/05/2014 Tanya Bondarenko, MSU Reflexivization strategies and argument structure in Georgian Languages like Georgian posit a problem for the universal typology of pronouns. It’s tempting to think that there should be a one-to-one correspondence between the forms (pronouns) and sets of properties ([- obviative, +reflexive (locally bound)], [+obviative, - reflexive (referentially independent)] etc.), so that every pronoun in every language would be categorized by some set and every set if present in a language would be expressed by a pronoun. But, first of all, there are languages that have verbal means of encoding the same sets of properties – for example, Georgian has verbal reflexivization in addition to reflexive pronouns. Secondly, it seems that sometimes a set of properties is distributed between a lexical entity (pronoun) and a syntactic operation. This is the case with another reflexivization strategy in Georgian which is partly nominal and partly verbal – it consists of a pronoun and an operation on the verb. If there is no one-to-one correspondence, it seems that our typological approach is a unidirectional investigation: we want to know what properties can pronouns have, but we are not interested in what expression can the properties receive. Is this a right way to go? Pondering over this question, let’s take a look at the Georgian material. I Means of Reflexivization in Georgian There are two reflexive pronouns in the Georgian language: one simple and one complex. The simple reflexive pronoun “tav” is a grammaticalized noun “head”. The complex pronoun is composed of a possessive pronoun and the simple “tav” (further referred to as “POSS+tav”). In the complex pronoun each part is declined, so this results in the following forms: SG PL 1 possessive čem- tav- čven- tav- 2 possessive šen- tav- tkven- tav- 3 possessive mis- tav- mat- tav- 3 possessive & reflexive tavis- tav- taviant- tav- Both pronouns have very similar properties with respect to binding. Before we turn to examples, it’s important to note that in Georgian indirect objects are structurally higher than direct objects (and subjects are structurally higher than indirect objects), so we get the following picture: Subject binds Direct object – OK! Subject binds Indirect object – OK! Indirect object binds Direct object – OK! *Indirect object binds Subject *Direct object binds Subject *Direct object binds Indirect Object 1 The binding properties which the simple “tav” and the POSS+tav share: 1) Both pronouns need to have a c-commanding co-argument antecedent in the same clause. For example (from [Amiridze 2006]): 1 (1) mam-iko-si uxaria [rom anaj [tavis tav-s]*i/j k’argad uvlis] father-DIM2-DAT is glad that Ana.NOM 3ReflPossSg self-DAT well takes care Daddy is glad that Ana takes care of herself / *him well (2) levan-ii pikrobs, rom mej tav-i*i/j vike Levan-NOM thinks that I.ACT3 self-NOM praised Levan thinks that I praised myself / *him The first sentence shows that POSS+tav pronoun should be bound within the subordinate clause; it can’t be bound by the subject of the matrix clause “daddy”. The second sentence shows the same point for the simple “tav” pronoun – it can’t be bound by “Levan”, but can be bound by the subject of the subordinate clause “me”. In her work “Reflexivization strategies in Georgian” Nino Amiridze investigates all the binding possibilities and arrives at a conclusion that c-commanding and being a co-argument are both necessary properties of being a binder for both reflexive pronouns. 2) Both can’t have logophoric uses (“on behalf of myself…” – is not possible in Georgian) or function in any way as long-distance anaphors. Here are the ungrammatical attempts of the logophoric uses: (3) *[šen-i tav-is] garda nebismier-i šeamčnevs 2PossSg-NOM self-GEN except anybody-NOM will notice p’rezident’-is uvicoba-s-a da p’olit’ik’ur sibece-s president-GEN ignorance-DAT-EV4 and political cross.eye-DAT The intended reading: “Anyone but yourself will notice the president’s ignorance and being politically cross eyed” (4) *tav-is msgavs-i xalx-is-a-tvis dikt’at’or-s qoveltvis self-GEN alike-NOM people-GEN-EV-for dictator-DAT always moedzebneba ert-i sak’an-i can be searched one-NOM prison.cell-NOM Literally: For people like yourself there can always be searched a prison cell by the dictator “For people like yourself the dictator always has a prison cell” 3) Word order, case marking and agreement with the verb don’t affect their binding. This is also shown accurately in [Amiridze 2006]. I think that at this point the similarity between the two reflexive pronouns should be suspicious. Why would a language have two pronouns with the same distribution and with identical binding properties? It contradicts principles of economy that we believe the natural language has. We’ll turn to this question a 1 I will omit the proper glossing of the verbal forms for the means of simplification when they are not important to the point. 2 DIM – diminutive suffix 3 ACT – “active” case – a case of Agent in active argument coding (Agents of transitive and unergative verbs have one case, Patients of transitive and unaccusative verbs – another) 4 EV - epenthetic vowel 2 little bit later, when we’ll talk about the strategies and the readings. And now let’s look at the verbal means of reflexivization in Georgian. Apart from the two pronouns discussed above, there can be a change in the verb form. Verbal wordform has a complex structure in Georgian, and there is a special slot in the form for “preradical vowels” - -i-/-e- /-a-/-u. These vowels have different functions – they are used in formation of synthetic passives, they appear in unaccusatives and unergatives and in some cases of agreement. So sometimes reflexive predicates undergo the following change: any preradical vowel in the verb (if present) is deleted and –i- occupies the “pre-radical vowel” slot. For example: (5) a=a-šen-eb-s a=i-šen-eb-s PV=PRV-build-TS-3SG PV=PRV-build-TS-3SG5 he/she/it builds it he/she/it builds something for himself/herself/itself As we see from the meaning, the predicate becomes reflexive. This change on the verb can occur on its own as in (5) but it can also co-occur with the reflexive pronouns. What is more, if we use a simple pronoun “tav”, the change in the verb is obligatory6: (6) me [čem-s tav-s] v-i-xatav I.NOM 1PossSg-DAT self-DAT 1SG-PRV-draw.1SG I draw MYSELF (7) me [čem-s tav-s] v-xatav I.NOM 1PossSg-DAT self-DAT 1SG-draw.1SG I draw myself (8) me tav-s v-i-xatav I.NOM self-DAT 1SG-PRV-draw.1SG I draw myself. (9) *me tav-s v-xatav I.NOM self-DAT 1SG-draw.1SG I draw myself. As we see from examples (6)-(7), POSS+tav pronoun is grammatical both with the verbal change and without it (the difference in meaning will be discussed later), while the simple “tav” pronoun (examples (8)-(9)) is ungrammatical without the operation on verb. This is the main difference between the two pronouns. So, we outlined the means of reflexivization in Georgian, they are: the simple “tav” pronoun, the complex POSS+tav pronoun and the operation on the verb. These three means can combine with each other in different ways, giving us co-called “reflexivization strategies”. In the next section we’ll look at what combinations are possible and what are impossible and why. 5 PV – preverb, PRV – preradical vowel, TS – thematic suffix 6 Note that in example (2) the verb also undergoes a change: in “v-i-ke” (“praised”) we see a preradical vowel “i” as opposed to the form “v-a-ke” with the preradical vowel “a”. In (4), where “tavi” is a complement of a preposition, there’s simply no verb to undergo the change. 3 II The Reflexivization strategies in Georgian Many phenomena in the Georgian language revolve around the argument structure of the verb, and reflexivization is not an exception. The possibility of a given combination of reflexivization’s means depends on the argument structure of the verb. Here is the table that summarizes all the possibilities: Table 1 Number of The operation Binder – Bindee Pronoun Readings arguments on the verb SU – DO bound 3-argument verbs SU – IO IO – DO Ø bound, coreferential POSS+tav SU – IO bound bound, coreferential SU – DO 2-argument verbs tav SU – IO -i- bound overt arguments: Ø SU, DO Let’s first look at the verbs that have three arguments. There is only one strategy that is possible for them: to reflexivize the predicate one needs to use a complex POSS+tav pronoun and take a verb without any change7. When the subject is the binder, only bound readings are possible. When the indirect object binds the direct object, both readings are possible. When a verb has two overt arguments, the picture becomes more complicated. First of all, we need to distinguish two types of verbs: those with the overt indirect object and those with the overt direct object. The former verbs behave just like those verbs that have three arguments: they need a POSS+tav pronoun to become reflexive and they don’t undergo the change. The verbs with the overt direct object have four possibilities: 1) Direct object is a POSS+tav pronoun, there is no change in the verb (and with this strategy both bound and coreferential readings are possible!) 2) Direct object is a POSS+tav pronoun, there is a change in the verb 3) Direct object is a simple “tav” pronoun, there is a change in the verb 4) No reflexive pronouns are used, the verb undergoes the change Every time there is an operation on the verb only bound variable readings are possible.