Ergativity Cheat Sheet Page 3
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7Jessica Coon
Ergativity
• But not all combinations are attested. . .
(10) C
OMBINATIONS OF CASE AND AGREEMENT
AGREEMENT
-
-
NOM
ACC
ERG
ABS
CASE
-
✔ English, Icelandic ✖
NOM
ACC
-
✔ Walpiri, Chukchi
✔ Basque, Tsez
ERG
ABS
(11) C
HUKCHI
a. G@m-nan
t@-ìPu-G@t
G@t
I-
you.
1
.
-see-2
.
ERG
ABS
SG
SUB
SG
OBJ
‘I saw you.’
b. G@m
t@-k@tG@ntat-GPak
I.
1
.
-run-1
.
ABS
SG
SUBJ
SG
SUBJ
‘I ran.’
(Bobaljik and Branigan
2006)
• Case marking shows up on nominals (absolutive is unmarked)
• The verb also cross-references arguments:
➽ The prefix indicates person/number of the subject, regardless of case marking
◦ The suffix references subjects of intransitives, and a combination of subject and object
for transitives
3 Antipassive
• Demotion of transitive subject (possibly realized as oblique) = passive
• Demotion of transitive object = antipassive
(Silverstein
1972)
“An antipassive construction is a derived detransitivized construction with a two-place
predicate, related to a corresponding transitive construction whose predicate is the
same lexical item. In the basic transitive construction, the patient-like argument is
realized as a direct object; in the antipassive construction, that argument is either
suppressed (left implicit) or realized as an oblique complement”
(Polinsky
2005)
(12) C
HUKCHI
a. T
RANSITIVE
Paaˇ c ek-a
kimitP-@n
n@-nlPetet-@n
youth-
load-
3
.
-carry-
.3
.
ERG
ABS
PL
SUBJ
AOR
SG
OBJ
‘The young men carried away the/a load.’
b. A
NTIPASSIVE
Paaˇ c ek-@t
ine-nlPetet-gPe-t
kimitP-e
yough-
-carry-
.3
.
-
load-
ABS
AP
AOR
SG
SUBJ
PL
INSTR
‘The young men carried away the /a load.’
(Polinsky
2005)
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