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Signature Redacted Author MASSACHUSETTS ING1TE Default Ergative OF TECHNOLOGY by SEP 18 2014 Yusuke Imanishi B.A., Policy Studies, Kwansei Gakuin University (2007) LIBRARIES M.A., English Linguistics, Osaka University (2009) Submitted to the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY September 2014 @2014 Yusuke Imanishi. All rights reserved The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created. Signature redacted Author............. Philosophy C beartment of Linguistics and // August 28, 2014 Signature redacted Certified by......... ---........-.-.-...-. David Pesetsky Ferrari P. Ward Professor of Modem Languages and Linguistics Thesis Supervisor Signature redacted Accepted by ........ ..........-... -...... David Pesetsky Head, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy 2 Default Ergative by Yusuke Imanishi Submitted to the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy on August 28, 2014, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics Abstract In this thesis, I propose the hypothesis that ergative Case in certain languages may be assigned to a DP which would be otherwise Case-less within a certain domain. In this sense, ergative Case appears to be a default. At the same time, I argue that ergative Case may be assigned by any phase head to the highest Case-less DP within its Spell-Out domain (= henceforth phase head Case) - it is not just a default. This gives rise to the impression that assignment of ergative Case is a default, though it is in fact structurally determined. One of the crucial consequences of this approach is that ergative Case can be aligned with grammatical relations more flexibly than in previous approaches. Ergative may look like an 'alignment' because in the majority of sentences the subject in a transitive sentence is aligned with ergative Case. I argue that appearances are deceiving, and that if we look carefully at the full range of instances in which ergative is found, a different generalization emerges. I demonstrate that what is called ergative may constitute phase head Case in certain languages. There is no a priori reason to posit a correlation between ergative Case and grammatical relations - a DP receiving ergative Case could be either subject or object. In this thesis, I investigate (split) ergativity in Mayan languages (mainly Kaqchikel, Chol, Q'anjob'al and Ixil) as a testing ground for the plausibility of the hypothesis that phase head Case exists, and is the correct analysis of certain phenomena generally analyzed as instances of ergative alignment. I also explore possible avenues in which we can expand the scope of our analysis. For this purpose, I discuss languages outside Mayan (i.e., Chukchee, Tagalog and Kurmanji) with an eye towards the extension of the default ergative analysis to these languages. I focus on the cross-linguistically attested syncretism between ergative and oblique case, and suggest that ergative may also be assigned to an otherwise Case-less DP in these languages in parallel with Mayan languages. Thesis Supervisor: David Pesetsky Title: Ferrari P. Ward Professor of Modem Languages and Linguistics 3 4 Acknowledgments Although I expected this to happen at some point, my exciting five years at the MIT linguistics department end with this thesis. As I also expected, the ending comes with thanking people. But now I realize that it means a lot of people, really: a lot more people than I expected when I arrived in Boston five years ago. Without the help of these people, I could not have written the thesis. That being said, unfortunately, it is impossible to give an exhaustive list of them. I am solely responsible for any shortcomings or errors in the data or analysis. First and foremost, I owe a great deal of debt to my thesis committee members: Jessica Coon, Sabine Iatridou, David Pesetsky, Maria Polinsky and Norvin Richards. David has supported me tremendously in various ways as chair of the committee and as a mentor in academic and personal life. I fully agree with what has been said about him in numerous MIT dissertations. I still wish to say something about David, though I know it is an impossible task to thank him in a single paragraph. David's enthusiasm for mentoring has inspired me greatly and given me confidence in what I tried to do. He has helped me think through linguistic issues and construct argumentation with his vast knowledge and love of linguistics and languages. Despite his hectic schedule, he managed to hold a meeting with me whenever I needed it - even via Skype when I was in Guatemala for fieldwork. Every time we met, he gave me different perspectives that I had never thought of before, and they played a crucial role in improving my work. In addition, as is obvious to people who know him, he is a superb teacher and has charismatic skills of getting the audience excited about linguistics in a minute (literally!). As his TA, I have learned a lot about teaching. I have also learned a great deal about presentation skills and other skills necessary for my career through individual meetings. Summarizing, he is the person who constantly provided me with encouragement and support I needed to survive at graduate school. Although there are a lot more things I want to say, I stop here simply by saying "Thank you very much, David!". I am also very grateful to Norvin for giving me a lot of helpful, insightful comments and suggestions from the perspective of various languages. I have been amazed and inspired by his talented skills of under- standing raw language data very quickly and making exciting predictions based on them. I thank him for suggesting Tagalog as a possible avenue to which my analysis could be applied, although he has a different 5 view of the language. I will also forever remember his incredible ability to sing Japanese traditional songs (= enka) fluently (!). I would like to thank Sabine for asking me the right questions at the right moments (as has been echoed in many MIT dissertations) and teaching me the topics I had not explored before (e.g., tense and aspect as you probably can tell). She always helped me make sure that what I tried to say makes sense. I am also indebted to her for encouragement and pieces of advice in academic and personal life. I wish to express my gratitude to Masha for joining my thesis committee as an external member. I am very fortunate to have learned a great deal about ergativity, Austronesian and Mayan languages and Chukchee from her (= the expert on all of these among other things). She made herself available whenever I needed a meeting with her, and helped me work through analytical dead ends. She also offered encourage- ment and advice in various aspects of life. I would like to thank Jessica for joining my thesis committee and serving as a wonderful mentor in Mayan linguistics and syntax. I first exposed myself to Mayan languages and particularly Kaqchikel in the field methods class that she co-taught with Michael Kenstowicz at MIT. Without the class, I would not have worked on this exciting field and found a topic for my dissertation. As an expert on Mayan languages, Jes- sica has provided me with countless insightful comments and suggestions. As an experienced field worker and syntactician, she has guided me on how to analyze apparently puzzling data. I am very grateful for her interest in my work and significant contributions to the thesis. I am deeply indebted to my Kaqchikel teachers and consultants for their assistance and patience with my fieldwork research and for sharing their language with me: Alberto Sipac Aju, Anacleto Catd, Mauro Cand, Ana L6pez de Mateo, Jairo Bala L6pes and Rufino Xinico. They welcomed me to their homes and taught me wonderful aspects of Kaqchikel with great enthusiasm, and encouraged me to study the language. Without their generosity and help, I could not have carried out my research. Matyx! I am particularly grateful to Ana and Pedro Mateo Pedro for their friendship and unfailing support for my research. They have also been my mentors in life and shared lots of wonderful moments with me and my family. I thank the entire Ana & Pedro family for their hospitality and kind support. In addition, I owe a lot to Pedro for sharing his expertise on Q'anjob'al and Mayan languages and having very stimulating discussions with me. I would like to express my gratitude to Elaine Elliott and Stephen R. Elliott for their generous help with 6 eliciting Ixil data. I thank Joseph DeChicchis for introducing me to them and teaching me a a lot about Q'eqchi' and Mayan languages in general. I wish to thank other faculty members at the MIT linguistics department for their guidance on various topics of linguistics and constant encouragement: particularly Adam Albright, Noam Chomsky, Michel De- Graff, Kai von Fintel, Edward Flemming, Martin Hackl, Irene Heim, Michael Kenstowicz, Donca Steriade and Ken Wexler. I am also grateful to Shigeru Miyagawa for constantly providing support in my academic and personal life, and to his family for being generous to my family. Many thanks go to my classmates (= ling-09 fellows): Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine, lain Giblin, Edwin Howard, Hadas Kotek, Junya Nomura and Daeyoung Sohn. I am very pleased to have spent lots of hours with them in discussing assignments and various linguistic issues. Without their friendship, my first year and the subsequent years would have been less exciting.
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