Language Typology and Syntactic Description, Volume I: Clause Structure, Second edition
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Lgg Typology, Synt Description v. I - Clause structure
Avery D. Andrews
for a-subject in Manipuri, for example in the form of a constraint to the effect that a-subjects in positive sentences can’t be marked with bu. It is thus not fully established that Manipuri truly lacks grammatical relations, but it is clear that further detailed investigation of the semantic concomitants of the case-marking and other grammatical phenomena ought to lead eventually to a definite answer (and such investigation is possible, since the language is not endangered). 4.3.2 Split intransitivity One of the many interesting features of Manipuri is the capacity of the accusative marker to appear on a putative subject, as in (131). There turns out to be a considerable number of languages where some intransitive verbs take sole arguments which resemble a in their marking or grammatical behaviour, while others take sole arguments resembling p. This phenomenon, called ‘split intransitivity’, ‘split-s marking’, or ‘unaccusativity’, is widespread in the Americas, also occurring in languages of Indonesia, such as Acehnese (Durie (1985)), and, it turns out, in a somewhat subtle form, in many European languages. For excellent discussion of split intransitivity see Foley, chapter 7, section 1.4, and Dryer, chapter 4, section 2.4.2. Split intransitivity is easy to recognize, although the best way analyse the languages exhibiting it is not always clear. A fairly typical example is Choctaw (W. Davies (1986:14–16)), originally a language of Mississippi). In this language, a and p are cross-referenced with distinct series of affixes (some prefixes, others suffixes): (135) a. Chi-bashli-li-tok 2(acc)-cut-1(nom)-past ‘I cut you’ b. Is-sa-sso-tok 2(nom)-1(acc)-hit-past ‘You hit me’ One of the two main types of intransitives takes the ‘nominative’ (a) agreement: (136) a. Hilha-li-tok dance-1(nom)-past ‘I danced’ b. Ish-˜ıpa-h-˜o 2(nom)-eat-pred-q ‘Have you eaten?’ These are verbs whose sole argument (s-function) nps have agent-like semantic roles. The major functions of the noun phrase 217 The other main type takes the ‘accusative’ (p) agreement: (137) a. Sa-hohchafo-h 1(acc)-hungry-pred ‘I am hungry’ b. Chi-cha:ha-h 2(acc)-tall-pred ‘You are tall’ These are verbs whose s arguments participate in various kinds of involuntary states and events. The markers used to cross-reference the agent-like s nps (136) are the ones that are also used for a, while those used for the non-agent-like s nps of (137) are the same as those used for p, as can be seen by looking at (135). The existence of these two types of intransitive verb is an instance of split intransitivity (there is also a third, small, class of intransitive verbs carrying the markers normally used for recipients, but we will not consider them here). On the basis of this it is reasonable to call the first kind of s ‘s A ’ (s with significant resemblances to a ), the second ‘s P ’ (s with significant resemblances to p). What is really behind this and other instances of split intransitivity is, how- ever, not so clear. A conclusion that one might start to draw from the data so far is that this language has direct reference to semantic roles, reflecting some kind of agent/patient distinction, and that grammatical relations are con- sequently unnecessary, as Bhat argues for Manipuri. But unlike Manipuri, there is a further coding feature whereby a is treated the same as all s regardless of their semantic role or choice of cross-reference marker. This is nominal case marking. If an a/s argument is expressed as a full np in choctaw, then it appears in the nominative case, marked by the ending Download 1.59 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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