On the Origins and Elimination of Ergativity in Indo-Aryan Languages

1989 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 377-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vit Bubenik
Keyword(s):  
Direct Object ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Type B ◽  
Morphological Marker ◽  
Transitive Verb ◽  
Intransitive Verb ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Verbal Agreement ◽  
And Gender

Ergativity is a term used in traditional descriptive and typological linguistics to refer to a system of nominal case-marking where the subject of an intransitive verb has the same morphological marker as a direct object, and a different morphological marker from the subject of a transitive verb. Languages in which this system is found are divided into two main types, A and B (following Trask 1979:388). In Type A the ergative construction is used equally in all tenses and aspects. Furthermore, if there is verbal agreement, the verb agrees with the direct object in person and number in exactly the same way it agrees with the subject of an intransitive verb. The verb agrees with the transitive subject in a different way. Well-known representatives of this type are Basque, Australian ergative languages, certain North American languages, Tibeto-Burman and Chukchee. In type B there is most often a tense/aspect split, in which case the ergative construction is confined to the perfective aspect (or the past tense), and the nominative-accusative configuration is used elsewhere. Furthermore, if there is verbal agreement, the verb may agree with the direct object in number and gender but not in person.

The conjugation of the Tangut verb

1994 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ksenia Borisovna Kepping
Keyword(s):  
First Person ◽  
Verbal Morphology ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Transitive Verb ◽  
Person Plural ◽  
Intransitive Verb ◽  
Third Person ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Verbal Agreement

The data and analyses of Tangut verbal morphology which I have presented (1979b, 1981, 1982, 1985) represent the cumulative result of more than twenty years of research of Tangut texts. It is with great regret that I saw my analyses misunderstood (LaPolla, 1992). In order to clarify my view on the Tangut verbal agreement, I feel compelled to give a succinct account of the phenomena causing so much controversy in the Tibeto-Burman linguistic literature.The Tangut verb shows agreement for person and number of actant. The three overt agreement morphemes are <-ŋa2> (first person singular), <-na2> (second person singular) and <-ni2> (first and second person plural). The Tangut verb shows overt agreement only with first and second person actant. Third person involvement is marked by zero. A Tangut intransitive verb agrees with the subject, i.e. the ‘intransitive subject’. The two rules for the distribution of the overt agreement markers in the transitive verb as formulated in my Tangut grammar (Kepping, 1985: 233–4) are: (1) If one and no more than one of the actants is a first or second person, then the verb will overtly agree with that actant regardless of its syntactic role, and (2) if a transitive verb has two non-third person actants, the verb will agree with the grammatical patient or ‘transitive object’.

The Predicate Category and Characteristics of Arguments in Balinese Sentences

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 126
Author(s):  
I Nyoman Kardana ◽  
I Gusti Ngurah Adi Rajistha ◽  
Made Sri Satyawati
Keyword(s):  
Direct Object ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Transitive Verb ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Intransitive Verb ◽  
Inductive Approach ◽  
Subject And Object ◽  
The Subject ◽  
And Function ◽  
Simple Sentences

This study discusses about sentence structure of Balinese language. For the analysis, inductive approach is considered to be important for this study as every language has its particular characteristics described based on the inductive approach. Based on the analysis it was found that predicate of Balinese simple sentences may be filled by verb and non-verb, such as noun, adjective, number, adverb. The number and function of the argument is different among the different predicates. The predicate filled by noun, adjective, adverb, number, and intransitive verb requires one argument functioning as the subject of sentence. Two arguments are required by transitive verb especially mono transitive verb. The two arguments can be the subject and object, the subject and complement, or the subject and adverbial. Meanwhile, di-transitive verb requires three arguments and they can be the subject, indirect object, and direct object, or the subject, object, and complement.

Complete and defective agreement in Kutchi

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-288
Author(s):  
Stefan Keine ◽  
Trupti Nisar ◽  
Rajesh Bhatt
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Stark Contrast ◽  
Verbal Agreement ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Split Ergativity ◽  
Do So

We describe and analyze the previously undocumented verbal agreement system of Kutchi (Indo-Aryan). We argue that Kutchi instantiates a novel type of split ergativity. First, it exhibits an aspect split in that agreement in non-perfective clauses behaves on a par with agreement in intransitive perfective clauses, in stark contrast to transitive perfective clauses. A striking property of Kutchi is that these asymmetries manifest themselves in the richness of agreement. In the former configurations, the verb agrees with the subject for person, number and gender. In the latter, on the other hand, agreement is systematically defective and reliable fails to cross-references certain φ-features. In addition to this aspect split, Kutchi displays a person split: While the verb normally agrees with the subject, it surprisingly fails to do so in transitive perfective clauses with a 1st person subject. Instead, it is the object that triggers agreement in these configurations, likewise in a defective manner. We will argue that these agreement asymmetries are syntactic in nature rather than morphological. Our analysis builds on, and extends, previous work by Laka (2006) and Coon (2010).

The Practice Of Pediatrics in the Era of Vaccines Effective Against Haemophilus influenzae Type b

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 93 (4) ◽  
pp. 680-681
Author(s):  
Laurence B. Givner ◽  
Charles R. Woods ◽  
Jon S. Abramson
Keyword(s):  
Haemophilus Influenzae ◽  
Invasive Disease ◽  
Haemophilus Influenzae Type ◽  
Rapid Decline ◽  
Haemophilus Influenzae Type B ◽  
Type B ◽  
The Past ◽  
Dramatic Decline ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
The Subject

The practice of pediatrics is forever altered when a vaccine is effective in dramatically reducing the incidence of (or even eradicating) an infectious disease. As the targeted disease is rapidly declining in incidence, there are often exciting changes in the practice of pediatrics, with far-reaching effects in the everyday treatment of patients. Such is the case now due to the effectiveness of the conjugated polysaccharide vaccines against Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib). The resultant rapid decline in the incidence of invasive disease due to Hib during the past several years has been documented in numerous studies.1-3 The effects of this dramatic decline in Hib disease on the approach to children who have (presumed) infectious diseases are the subject of this editorial.

scholarly journals Forskning i køn og sport. Et historisk perspektiv

2006 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Brandy
Keyword(s):  
Exercise Physiology ◽  
Theoretical Development ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
The Past ◽  
Gender And Sports ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Further Development

Kønsbegrebet i sportsforskningen er hovedfokuset i denne artikel, som tager et særligt internationalt islæt i form af inddragelsen af nordamerikansk og britisk kønsforskning. Afslutningsvis kommer artiklen med bud på yderligere forskning inden for køn og sport. Susan J. Bandy: Gender and Sports Studies: A Historical PerspectiveIn the late 1970s, the concept of ‘gender’ was introduced into the discourse in sports studies and soon thereafter a number of interrelated forces converged to further promote its use by scholars in the discipline. It is argued that the incorporation of ‘gender’ into the discourse contributed to the academic development of knowledge in sports studies, and further that the concept of ‘gender’ changed over time, as did knowledge and methodological approaches in sports studies. The focus of this essay is principally on scholarship in North America and Great Britain because this scholarship includes the largest volume, the most varied examples and interpretation of the subject, and the fullest elaboration of the theoretical debates concerning gender and sport. It is argued that much of the research concerning gender and sport has been done in the context of three conceptual or theoretical frameworks that have been used by many feminists in the past twenty years, especially sports sociologists and sports historians. ‘Gender’ was first embraced following the distinctions made between ‘sex’ and ‘gender’. With an emphasis upon the academic and theoretical development of sports studies, sports philosophers and sports psychologists became interested in the study of the female athlete, as different from her male counterpart. Soon thereafter sports sociologists and sport historians argued that ‘gender’ should be understood in relational terms, and they began to critique sport and culture using interdisciplinary perspectives and adopting theories from a variety of disciplines, including women’s studies. More recently, interdisciplinary perspectives have given way to transdisciplinary perspectives, and ‘gender’ has been reconceived as a fluid concept and in interrelational terms with other concepts such as space, power, representation, narrativity, and language as these pertain to sport. The paper raises questions about the relative absence of the concept of ‘gender’ in some of the sub-disciplines, most notably exercise physiology and biomechanics, and the importance of new understandings of gender for the further development of theories, concepts, paradigms, and research methodologies in sports studies.

scholarly journals Reading the intentions of be going to. On the subjectification of future markers

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Budts ◽  
Peter Petré
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Functional Changes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Grammatical Subject ◽  
Third Person ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Late Modern

Abstract This paper provides a detailed corpus-based account of the formal and functional changes that be going to underwent in Late Modern English. Despite be going to’s popularity, such studies remain rare for this period, in which the construction’s grammaticalization went through a second phase. Our analysis shows that the first half of the eighteenth century witnessed a shift from intention to prediction, which originated in contexts with third person subjects. Reporting the intention of others generally involves a certain amount of guesswork, which eventually resulted in the creation of an additional, epistemic layer of prediction, reinforced by the gradual extension of be going to to express non-imminent future situations. It is argued that this shift involves an increase in subjectivity, as the emphasis gradually moved away from the grammatical subject to the speaker: what mattered was no longer the intentions of the subject, but the knowledge of the speaker about them. Attention is also drawn to parallel developments in other future markers, particularly will. Interestingly, and in spite of significant differences, each of these went through an intermediary stage that involved past tense uses with reference to a future in the past, which was already known to the speaker.

scholarly journals TIPE VERBA BAHASA PERANCIS DAN PERWUJUDANNYA PADA KLAUSA

LITERA ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roswita Lumban Tobing
Keyword(s):  
Structural Approach ◽  
French Language ◽  
Passive Voice ◽  
Transitive Verb ◽  
Language System ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Intransitive Verb ◽  
Main Verb ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Auxiliary Verb

This study aims to describe types of verbs and their realizations in clauses in French. The data were collected from books on the French language system. The data were analyzed using a structural approach combined with referential semantics to check the acceptability of verb uses in clauses. The results are as follows. First, an intransitive verb in a clause serves as a predicate that describes the subject action without an object. Second, a transitive verb must be followed by a direct or an indirect object which can be placed in front of the verb. Third, a dual-type verb can be a transitive verb or an intransitive verb. Fourth, in the passive voice, the construction of the main verb is ‘participe passé’ that must be accompanied by the auxiliary verb ‘etre’.

scholarly journals Sorani Kurdish and Minimalism

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 465
Author(s):  
Hiba Esmail Gharib
Keyword(s):  
Good Explanation ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Subject Agreement ◽  
Syntactic Theories

Sorani is a dialect of Kurdish that is spoken in many countries of the world. In Sorani there is an agreement marker that appears on the verb and makes the verb agrees with the subject in person and number. A close examination of the nature of the agreement marker in Sorani shows that it is not obvious whether it is a suffix or a clitic. In this research I will discuss the properties of the affixes and clitics in general, and then apply them to the data in Sorani to decide whether the agreement marker is an affix or a clitic. The agreement marker in Sorani in the past tense verbs requires reconsideration as in the past tense; the agreement marker appears on the object instead of the verb. Subject agreement in Sorani is considered a challenge to the syntactic theories as there is no good explanation available to understand this phenomenon. In my research will explore the nature of this agreement marker as this would be the key to explaining the agreement phenomenon in Sorani.

Agreement in Kuki-Chin languages of Barak valley

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauthang Haokip
Keyword(s):  
Direct Object ◽  
Future Tense ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Transitive Verb ◽  
Plural Form ◽  
Barak Valley ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Subject Agreement ◽  
Person Agreement

Abstract This paper discusses the agreement system of five Kuki-Chin (KC) languages of Barak valley, viz. Saihriem, Hrangkhol, Chorei, Sakachep, and Ronglong. The paper has an introduction, and five sections dedicated to agreement in different contructions: intransitive structures, transitive structures, agreement with the same person, agreement with ditransitive verbs, and agreement in hortative and imperative constructions. The discussion of agreement is further divided into subparts by paradigm; non-future, future and negative; and by languages. As in most KC languages, the Barak valley KC languages exhibit both preverbal and postverbal agreement clitics. The preverbal agreement clitics are homophonous with the possessive pronouns which occur before a noun. In intransitive constructions, the future affirmative paradigm has the same subject agreement clitics as the non-future paradigm. But unlike the non-future paradigm, the agreement clitics occur mostly after the verb and before the future tense marker in the future paradigm. In intransitive constructions, the postverbal agreement clitic shows up only in the future negative paradigm. As in the case of preverbal agreement clitics, the subject NP of an intransitive verb in the future negative paradigm can be dropped, and it can be recovered from its corresponding postverbal agreement clitics. Across the Barak valley KC languages, a transitive verb agrees with its object for the 1st person. Saihriem is the only language which shows number distinction for the second person object. If a verb takes more than one object, one with an inanimate direct object and the other with an indirect human object, the human indirect object takes precedence over the inanimate direct object for agreement. The Imperative construction takes the regular pre-verbal subject agreement marker for 1st and 3rd person in both the singular and plural form. On the contrary, the second person does not take any agreement marker. However, the number (singular and plural of the person) is distinguished in the imperative marker itself.

scholarly journals Malayalam Morphosyntax: Inflectional Features and their Acquisition

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gayathri Krishnan
Keyword(s):  
Past Tense ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
The Past ◽  
Lexical Feature ◽  
Marker Selection ◽  
Dative Subject ◽  
Empirical Tests ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Case Number ◽  
Selection Of

Malayalam, which belongs to the South-Dravidian language family, is an agglutinative language with rich inflectional morphology. The aim of the thesis is to analyse the grammar and acquisition of Malayalam verbal inflections (tense, aspect and mood) and nominal inflections (case, number, and gender). Within the larger discussion of inflectional morphology and its acquisition, particular attention is paid to two complex morphological processes, a) the past tense formation of verbs and b) case assignment of subjects and objects.In particular, the thesis will show the following: a) that the past tense marker selection is determined by different grammatical principles in underived and derived stems; specifically, phonotactics in the former and the lexical feature of transitivity in the latter; b) that the dative nominals of a class of predicates (variously labelled experiencer or dative subject or psych predicates) are in fact subjects using an array of empirical tests involving binding, control, accusative marking, and predicate alternation; and c) that inflections for number and object case rest on lexical features of the noun (stem) and the allomorphy is governed by these featural requirements. In looking at the developing grammar in the two subjects, the thesis will show that Malayalam inflectional grammar has quite direct consequences for the acquisition of inflectional morphology. Specifically, acquisition proceeds unobstructed when the mode of selection is phonological and offers more challenges when the mode of selection is morphological, i.e., when the selection depends on the learning of the lexical or grammatical features of the noun and verb stems.Thus, using the interplay between acquisition and the grammatical description, we establish that in addition to the established factors that guide acquisition, mode of selection of an inflection plays a key role in determining the relative ease/difficulty in the acquisition of inflectional morphology. This follows quite neatly from the fact that children are phonologically competent even before much language is produced and that this module-competence could facilitate the acquisition of morphology. The thesis will argue that this is indeed the case.

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