Language Typology and Syntactic Description, Volume I: Clause Structure, Second edition
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Lgg Typology, Synt Description v. I - Clause structure
particle wala modifying the presumably nonagentive s of die: (104) ŋ ayu wala wula: ŋ ayu galwayala burgi ŋ I finish die /I spirit walk about ‘I really did die; I’m walking about as a spirit now’ Dixon (1977a: 375) Regardless of the uncertainties of Yidi (which are typical of what one finds with data from field work), there are languages with clearer cases of mixed ergativity, such as Inuit, which we now consider. 200 Avery D. Andrews Inuit, also known as Central Canadian Eskimo, is a language with rela- tively free word order, an extremely rich system of word-formation, and a system of case marking and cross-referencing on verbs that is somewhat rem- iniscent of Australian Aboriginal languages, as well as older or conservative Indo-European ones such as Sanskrit or Russian. The case marking is ergative, with the ergative case being identical to the possessive; this ergative/possessive case is traditionally called the ‘relative’. Intransitive verbs agree with their s, transitives with a and p, via a complex system of cross-referencing affixes, which cannot convincingly be resolved into distinct a and p markers. Basic case marking and cross-referencing are illustrated in these examples: (105) a. Atuagaq ataasiq tikis-sima-nngi-la-q book(abs) one(abs) come- perf-neg-indic-3sg One book hasn’t come yet b. Juuna-p atuagaq ataasiq tigu-sima-nngi-la-a Juuna-erg book(abs) one(abs) get-perf-neg-indic.3sg-3sg There is a book which Juuna hasn’t got yet Note that the absolutive case is ‘marked’ by the absence of any case-affix. So the case marking is ergative, but the morphology of the verbal cross-referencing is too complex to support a clear judgement of whether it is ergative/absolutive or nominative/accusative. However, there are a number of phenomena showing syntactic ergativity in Inuit, collected by various researches over the years, and summarized and discussed by Manning (1996:83–191). Here I will present two: participial relative clauses, and the ‘wide scope’ that applies to the absolutive. The latter effect, discovered by Bittner (1994), is illustrated by the somewhat peculiar translations given to the examples above: the absolutive is interpreted as something that exists, about which the negative assertions are made, such as that it hasn’t come, or that Juuna doesn’t have it. The sentences do not have the following as glosses, where the existence of books is not assumed: (106) a. No books have come yet b. Juuna hasn’t got any books yet In Inuit, an absolutive argument will thus have semantically ‘wide scope’ over negative markers in the verbal morphology. An ergative-marked a on the other hand can have either wide scope over, or narrow scope under, a negative: (107) Atuartu-p ataatsi-p Juuna uqaluqatigi-sima-nngi-la-a student-erg one-erg Juuna(abs) talk.to-perf-neg-ind-3sg-3sg ‘No student has talked to Juuna yet’ ‘One student hasn’t talked to Juuna yet’ The major functions of the noun phrase 201 Wide scope is a property often (but not necessarily) associated with subjects, so not only is the absolutive showing a distinctive property, but also one that is subject-like. Our other example showing syntactic ergativity is relativization. Inuit has a series of participial moods that can be used to form relative clauses, but only relativizing on s or p in the relative clause (or, marginally, their possessors): (108) a. Miraaq kamat-tu-q child(abs) angry-rel.intrans-sg ‘the child that is angry’ b. Nanuq Piita-p tuqu-ta-a polar.bear(abs) Piita-erg kill-tr.ptcpl-3sg ‘a polar bear killed by Piita’ c. *Angut aallaat tigu-sima-sa-a man(abs) gun(abs) take-perf-rel.tr-3sg.3sg intended: ‘the man who took the gun’ Bittner (1994:56–7) So we see that (a), with relativization on s, and (b), with relativization on p, are acceptable, while (c) with attempted relativization on a is not. Download 1.59 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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