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Split-Ergativity in Mäori
SPLIT-ERGATIVITY IN MÄORI __________________________ A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Linguistics in the University of Canterbury by Anna Pucilowski ________________________ University of Canterbury 2006 Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………….................. 1 Abbreviations………………………………...………………………………….. 2 Chapter 1: Introduction..……………………………………………………. 3 1.1 Background………………………………………………………..... 5 1.2 Verbs in Mäori………………………………………………………. 6 1.2.1 Two argument verbs……………………………………… 6 1.2.2 Intransitive verbs…………………………………………. 7 1.3 Passive universals……………………………………………………. 9 Chapter 2: Mäori: accusative or ergative……………………………….... 11 2.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………... 11 2.2 Mäori as an accusative language…………………………………….. 14 2.2.1 Morphological “markedness”…………………………….. 14 2.2.2 Control……………………………………………………. 14 2.2.2.1 Restrictions on the controller……………………... 15 2.2.2.2 Restrictions on the controllee – ki te……………… 18 2.2.2.3 Restrictions on the controllee – hei control………. 20 2.2.2.4 Restrictions on the controllee – participle formation 22 2.2.2.5 Summary of control………………………………. 23 2.2.3 Raising……………………………………………………. 24 2.3 Mäori as an ergative language……………………………………….. 26 2.3.1 Frequency and “basicness”……………………………….. 28 2.3.2 Imperatives……………………………………………….. 28 2.3.3 Raising……………………………………………………. 29 2.3.4 ko-clefting………………………………………………… 29 2.3.5 Relative clauses…………………………………………... 31 2.3.6 The preposition i…………………………………………. 33 2.3.7 Pronominalisation and definiteness………………………. 34 2.4 Accounting for the –Cia suffix………………………………………. 36 2.5 Conclusion…………………………………………………………… 42 Chapter 3: The Split-Ergative Hypothesis………………………………. 43 3.1 Introduction………………………………………………………….. 43 3.2 Morphological split-ergativity……………………………………….. 46 3.2.1 The Transitivity Hypothesis (Hopper & Thompson 1980).. 47 3.2.2 The Transitivity Hypothesis and Mäori………………….. 48 3.2.2.1 Participants………………………………………. -
Possessive Constructions in Modern Low Saxon
POSSESSIVE CONSTRUCTIONS IN MODERN LOW SAXON a thesis submitted to the department of linguistics of stanford university in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of arts Jan Strunk June 2004 °c Copyright by Jan Strunk 2004 All Rights Reserved ii I certify that I have read this thesis and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts. Joan Bresnan (Principal Adviser) I certify that I have read this thesis and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts. Tom Wasow I certify that I have read this thesis and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts. Dan Jurafsky iii iv Abstract This thesis is a study of nominal possessive constructions in modern Low Saxon, a West Germanic language which is closely related to Dutch, Frisian, and German. After identifying the possessive constructions in current use in modern Low Saxon, I give a formal syntactic analysis of the four most common possessive constructions within the framework of Lexical Functional Grammar in the ¯rst part of this thesis. The four constructions that I will analyze in detail include a pronominal possessive construction with a possessive pronoun used as a determiner of the head noun, another prenominal construction that resembles the English s-possessive, a linker construction in which a possessive pronoun occurs as a possessive marker in between a prenominal possessor phrase and the head noun, and a postnominal construction that involves the preposition van/von/vun and is largely parallel to the English of -possessive. -
Subject and Ergativity in Middle Indo-Aryan
Subject and Ergativity in Middle Indo-Aryan Alessandra Roberta Caviglia University of Pavia, Italy 1. Introduction In literature, a significant attention has been devoted to the problem of subject in Indo-Aryan (henceforth IA) languages (Anderson 1976, Verma 1976, Hock 1986, Peterson 1998, Stroński 2011, Bickel & Yādava 2000). However, despite the numerous studies, Middle Indo-Aryan (henceforth MIA) languages, which represent the crucial stage in the rise of ergativity, have not yet been analyzed in all their complexity. In my paper I will present the data from a MIA language, Jain Māhārāṣṭṛī (henceforth JM). JM is a Middle Indo-Aryan language and the main language of the non-canonical literature of the Śvetambara group of Jainism. The data presented here are based on nine tales written by Devendra in the 11th century AD as a commentary of the Uttarajjhāyā, which is one of the canonical books of Jain literature. The original manuscript is in the British Library and was edited and published by Jacobi in 1886. Table 1: Chronological progression of Indo-Aryan (IA) languages Old Indo-Aryan (OIA) Vedic (until 600BC) Classical Sanskrit (600BC-200 AD) Middle Indo-Aryan (MIA): Pāḷi and Prakrits (200 BC – 1000AD) New Indo-Aryan (NIA): Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati… (1000 AD – present) Since Dixon (1979), the symbols A, S and O have been used to indicate the subject of a transitive clause (A), the subject of an intransitive clause (S), and the object of 46 LSO Working Papers in Linguistics 11: 46-60. Proceedings of WIGL 2014 Subject and Ergativity in MIA a transitive clause (O). -
Case in Standard Arabic: a Dependent Case Approach
CASE IN STANDARD ARABIC: A DEPENDENT CASE APPROACH AMER AHMED A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN LINGUISTICS AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO August 2016 © AMER AHMED, 2016 ABSTRACT This dissertation is concerned with how structural and non-structural cases are assigned in the variety of Arabic known in the literature as Standard Arabic (SA). Taking a Minimalist perspective, this dissertation shows that the available generative accounts of case in SA are problematic either theoretically or empirically. It is argued that these problems can be overcome using the hybrid dependent case theory of Baker (2015). This theory makes a distinction between two types of phases. The first is the hard phase, which disallows the materials inside from being accessed by higher phases. The second is the soft phase, which allows the materials inside it to be accessed by higher phases. The results of this dissertation indicate that in SA (a) the CP is a hard phase in that noun phrases inside this phase are inaccessible to higher phases for the purpose of case assignment. In contrast, vP is argued to be a soft phase in that the noun phrases inside this phase are still accessible to higher phases for the purposes of case assignment (b) the DP, and the PP are also argued to be hard phases in SA, (c) case assignment in SA follows a hierarchy such that lexical case applies before the dependent case, the dependent case applies before the Agree-based case assignment, the Agree-based case assignment applies before the unmarked/default case assignment, (d) case assignment in SA is determined by a parameter, which allows the dependent case assignment to apply to a noun phrase if it is c-commanded by another noun phrase in the same Spell-Out domain (TP or VP), (e) the rules of dependent case assignment require that the NPs involved have distinct referential indices. -
Subjects, Objects and Relativization in Japhug Guillaume Jacques
Subjects, objects and relativization in Japhug Guillaume Jacques To cite this version: Guillaume Jacques. Subjects, objects and relativization in Japhug. Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 2016, 44 (1), pp.1-28. 10.1353/jcl.2016.0005. halshs-01287472 HAL Id: halshs-01287472 https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01287472 Submitted on 13 Mar 2016 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Subjects, objects and relativization in Japhug1 Guillaume Jacques March 13, 2016 Published version: Jacques, Guillaume. 2016. Subjects, objects and relativization in Japhug. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 44:1–28. Abstract: Japhug is a language with ergative alignment on NP argu- ments and direct-inverse verbal indexation. However, this article, through a detailed description of relativizing constructions in Japhug, shows the existence of accusative pivots and proposes an unambiguous definition of ‘subjects’ and ‘objects’ in this language. Keywords:Japhug, Relativization, Subject, Object, Syntactic pivot 提要:茶堡话有作格格局的格标记,同时在动词上有正向/反向类型的 人称范畴。虽然在动词和名词形态上没有主格/宾格格局,但通过对关系句 的仔细考察可以证明茶堡话有非常清楚主格/宾格格局的句法枢纽,在这些 枢纽的基础上可以提出对“主语”和“宾语”明确不含糊的定义。 关键词:茶堡话,关系句,主语,宾语,句法枢纽 1 Introduction The present article deals with relative clauses in Japhug, and how these constructions provide evidence for the existence of syntactic pivots in this language. -
Overview of Ergativity
Chapter 2 Ergativity Chapter 2 Overview of Ergativity Ergativity is a term that refers to a certain pattern that some languages show in treating arguments of a verb. Generally, arguments are classified into three types: the subject of a transitive verb, the object of a transitive verb and the subject of an intransitive verb. Adopting Dixon’s (1979) terminology, we will refer to them as A, O, and S, respectively. If a language treats A and S in the same way, distinguishing O, the pattern is called accusative. In contrast, in an ergative pattern, S and O are treated as equivalent, while A is treated differently. The notion of ergativity is often used with regard to case marking. In an ergative case system, S and O appear in the same case, absolutive and A appears in a special case, ergative. An ergative pattern of case marking is referred to as morphological ergativity. Ergativity is not merely a morphological phenomenon. Some languages treat S and O as equivalents in some syntactic operations such as coordination and relativisation. An ergative pattern found at the level of syntax is referred to as syntactic ergativity. It should be noted that morphological ergativity does not entail syntactic ergativity. A language may have an ergative case marking without showing syntactic ergativity. However, a language that shows syntactic ergativity necessarily has an ergative case system. Syntactic ergativity is incompatible with accusative case marking. In other 13 Chapter 2 Ergativity words, there seems to be some correlation between morphological ergativity and syntactic ergativity. This leads to a hypothesis that ergative case marking is associated with syntactic configuration. -
Polysynthetic Structures of Lowland Amazonia
OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – REVISES, Sat Aug 19 2017, NEWGEN Chapter 15 Polysynthetic Structures of Lowland Amazonia Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald 15.1 Lowland Amazonian languages: a backdrop The Amazon basin is an area of high linguistic diversity (rivalled only by the island of New Guinea). It comprises around 350 languages grouped into over fifteen language families, in addition to a number of isolates. The six major linguistic families of the Amazon basin are as follows. • The Arawak language family is the largest in South America in terms of its geographical spread, with over forty extant languages between the Caribbean and Argentina. Well- established subgroups include Campa in Peru and a few small North Arawak groupings in Brazil and Venezuela. Arawak languages are spoken in at least ten locations north of the River Amazon, and in at least ten south of it. European languages contain a number of loans from Arawak languages, among them hammock and tobacco. • The Tupí language family consists of about seventy languages; nine of its ten branches are spoken exclusively in Amazonia. The largest branch, Tupí- Guaraní, extends beyond the Amazonian Basin into Bolivia and Paraguay. Loans from Tupí-Guaraní languages include jaguar and jacaranda. • Carib languages number about twenty five, and are spoken in various locations in Brazil and Venezuela in northern Amazonia, and in the region of the Upper Xingu and adjacent areas of Mato Grosso in Brazil south of the River Amazon. The place name ‘Caribbean’ and the noun cannibal (a version of the ethnonym ‘Carib’) are a legacy from Carib languages. • Panoan languages number about thirty, and are spoken on the eastern side of the Andes in Peru and adjacent areas of Brazil. -
Studies on Sentence Production and Comprehension in Tagalog and German
PDF hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen The following full text is a publisher's version. For additional information about this publication click this link. http://hdl.handle.net/2066/176833 Please be advised that this information was generated on 2019-01-10 and may be subject to change. The role of voice and word order in incremental sentence processing Studies on sentence production and comprehension in Tagalog and German Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen op gezag van de rector magnificus prof. dr. J. H. J. M. Krieken, volgens besluit van het college van decanen in het openbaar te verdedigen op dinsdag 10 october 2017 om 16.30 uur precies door Sebastian Sauppe geboren op 23 maart 1987 te Borna (Duitsland) Promotoren Prof. dr. Stephen C. Levinson Prof. dr. Robert D. Van Valin, Jr (Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Duitsland & University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Verenigde Staten) Copromotor Dr. Elisabeth Norcliffe (Max-Planck-Institut für Psycholinguistik, Nijmegen) Manuscriptcommissie Prof. dr. Antje S. Meyer Prof. dr. Nikolaus P. Himmelmann (Universität zu Köln, Duitsland) Prof. dr. T. Florian Jaeger (University of Rochester, Verenigde Staten) Copyright: Sebastian Sauppe, 2017. All rights reserved. Cover graphic generated using http://qrohlf.com/trianglify/ Printed and bound by Ipskamp Printing, Enschede ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A great number of people helped me the one way or the other during my time as a PhD student. Even if I don’t mention all of them here to keep it short, they can be assured that I am grateful to all of them. -
Adpositional Case
Adpositional Case S.A.M . Lestrade Adpositional Case Sander Lestrade PIONIER Project Case Cross-Linguistically Department of Linguistics Radboud University Nijmegen P.O. Box 9103 6500 HD Nijmegen The Netherlands www.ru.nl/pionier S.Lestrade@ let.ru.nl Adpositional Case M A Thesis Linguistics Department Radboud University Nijmegen May 2006 Sander Lestrade 0100854 First supervisor: Dr. Helen de Hoop Second supervisors: Dr. Ad Foolen and Dr. Joost Zwarts Acknowledgments I would like to thank Lotte Hogeweg and the members of the PIONIER project Case Cross-Linguistically for the nice cooperation and for providing a very stimulating working environment during the past year. Many thanks go to Geertje van Bergen for fruitful discussion and support during the process of writing. I would like to thank Ad Foolen and Joost Zwarts for their willingness to be my second supervisors and their useful comments on an earlier version; special thanks to Joost Zwarts for very useful and crucial discussion. Also, I gratefully acknowledge the Netherlands Organisation of Scientific Research (NWO) for financial support, grant 220-70-003, principal investigator Helen de Hoop (PIONIER-project “Case cross-linguistically”). Most of all, I would like to thank Helen de Hoop for her fantastic supervising without which I probably would not even have started, but certainly not have finished my thesis already. Moreover, I would like to thank her for the great opportunities she offered me to develop my skills in Linguistics. v Contents Acknowledgments v Contents vii Abbreviations -
Case in Nominalisations
Case in Nominalisations Justin Colley A thesis presented for the degree of Master of Arts (Research) School of Humanities and Languages Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences August 2015 PLEASE TYPE THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surname or Family name: Colley First name: Justin Other name/s: Mark Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: MRes School: Humanities and Languages Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences Title: Case in nominalisations Abstract 350 words maximum: (PLEASE TYPE) This thesis investigates the case-marking properties of Argument Structure (AS)-nominals. A number of researchers have argued that AS-nominals contain a verbal constituent, including the projection (vP/VoiceP) responsible for the introduction of the external argument (Alexiadou, Iordăchioaia, Cano, Martin, & Schäfer, 2013; Borer, 2013; van Hout & Roeper, 1998). v/Voice is standardly taken to assign accusative Case. The absence of accusative case in AS- nominals, together with the presence of v/Voice therefore poses a significant puzzle. I argue that a configurational theory of case (Baker, 2015; Marantz, 2000a; McFadden, 2004) explains the case- marking properties of AS-nominals, when paired with a dynamic theory of phases (Bobaljik & Wurmbrand, 2013; Bošković, 2014). Movement of the verb into the nominal domain triggers phase extension (den Dikken, 2007); the derived phase is nominal by nature, resulting in the loss of accusative case and the assignment of genitive case (unmarked case in the nominal domain). Because gerunds and related constructions do not involve movement of the verb into the nominal domain, phase extension does not occur, and accusative case emerges. -
Structural Case in Finnish
Structural Case in Finnish Paul Kiparsky Stanford University 1 Introduction 1.1 Morphological case and abstract case The fundamental fact that any theory of case must address is that morphological form and syntactic function do not stand in a one-to-one correspondence, yet are systematically related.1 Theories of case differ in whether they define case categories at a single structural level of representation, or at two or more levels of representation. For theories of the first type, the mismatches raise a dilemma when morphological form and syntactic function diverge. Which one should the classification be based on? Generally, such single-level approaches determine the case inventory on the basis of morphology using paradigmatic contrast as the basic criterion, and propose rules or constraints that map the resulting cases to grammatical relations. Multi-level case theories deal with the mismatch between morphological form and syntactic function by distinguishing morphological case on the basis of form and abstract case on the basis of function. Approaches that distinguish between abstract case and morphological case in this way typically envisage an interface called “spellout” that determines the relationship between them. In practice, this outlook has served to legitimize a neglect of inflectional morphol- ogy. The neglect is understandable, for syntacticians’ interest in morphological case is naturally less as a system in its own right than as a diagnostic for ab- stract case and grammatical relations. But it is not entirely benign: compare the abundance of explicit proposals about how abstract cases are assigned with the minimal attention paid to how they are morphologically realized. -
Ergativity: Argument Structure and Grammatical
ERGATIVIT Y ARGUMENT STRUCTURE AND GRAMMATICAL RELATIONS a dissertation submitted to the department of linguistics and the committee on graduate studies of stanford university in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy Christopher D Manning December c Copyright by Christopher D Manning All Rights Reserved ii I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it is fully adequate in scop e and in quality as a dissertation for the degree of Do ctor of Philosophy Joan Bresnan Principal Adviser I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it is fully adequate in scop e and in quality as a dissertation for the degree of Do ctor of Philosophy Ivan A Sag I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it is fully adequate in scop e and in quality as a dissertation for the degree of Do ctor of Philosophy Peter Sells I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it is fully adequate in scop e and in quality as a dissertation for the degree of Do ctor of Philosophy Mary Dalrymple Approved for the University Committee on Graduate Studies iii Abstract This dissertation considers the prop er treatment of syntactic ergativity arguing for a framework that decouples prominence at the levels of grammatical relations and argument structure The result is two notions of sub ject grammatical sub ject and argument structure sub ject as in Schachter and Guilfoyle Hung and Travis and a uniform analysis of syntactically ergative and Philippine