Nominal types in Gitksan split-absolutive agreement

Autor: Clarissa Forbes
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: Natural Language & Linguistic Theory. 39:1087-1128
ISSN: 1573-0859
0167-806X
DOI: 10.1007/s11049-020-09497-5
Popis: This paper presents a study of a split absolutive-nominative agreement pattern in Gitksan (Tsimshianic) which co-occurs with ergative agreement. The split is conditioned on the basis of nominal type: alongside ergative agreement, a second type of agreement targets absolutives (S, O) when the subject is a participant or third-singular pronoun, or nominatives (S, A) when the subject is a full DP or third-plural pronoun. This results in what appears to be construction-dependent variation in the applicability of the Activity Condition, as some transitive subjects receive both ergative and nominative agreement. It is proposed that DP arguments and third-plural pronouns are able to receive multiple instances of agreement by virtue of bearing D-features; in contrast to the situation with typical pronouns, these D-features remain active for agreement even if prior ergative agreement has already deactivated the argument’s ϕ-features. Both ergative and nominative agreement may target a single argument because different groups of features are targeted during the two operations. The D-feature property is ultimately linked to a structural DP/non-DP distinction amongst arguments, providing some insight into the role of D in pronominal systems. This analysis, which crucially relies on an approach to activity that explicitly allows incremental deactivation of an argument, accounts for the empirical facts in Gitksan more readily than a purely morphological approach or an approach that considers distinctions between ϕ-features alone.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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