Did Proto-Afroasiatic have marked nominative or nominative-accusative alignment?
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Helmut Satzinger
Abstract
The case system of Berber and Cushitic displays nominative-absolutive alignment, or a marked nominative system, a feature intermediary between ergative-absolutive and nominative-accusative alignment. Comparison of the cases of the nouns with the paradigms of the personal pronoun: A. independent / predicative (etc.) pronoun, B. dependent / object (etc.) pronoun, C. suffix / genitival (etc.) pronoun.
The two paradigms of the Semitic pronoun (independent and suffix pronoun) are a reduction of an original tripartite system, the suffix pronoun assuming functions of the dependent pronoun.
The numerous paradigms of the Berber and Chadic pronouns can be reduced to the same three basic paradigms. They can on their part be reduced to two, insofar as the independent and the dependent pronouns are ultimately of the same origin.
Correlation of noun cases and pronoun paradigms in Proto-Afroasiatic: Absolutive case nouns with 1. absolute pronoun (A), and 2. dependent pronoun (B); and nominative case nouns with 1. suffix pronoun (C), and 2. conjugation morpheme.
Abstract
The case system of Berber and Cushitic displays nominative-absolutive alignment, or a marked nominative system, a feature intermediary between ergative-absolutive and nominative-accusative alignment. Comparison of the cases of the nouns with the paradigms of the personal pronoun: A. independent / predicative (etc.) pronoun, B. dependent / object (etc.) pronoun, C. suffix / genitival (etc.) pronoun.
The two paradigms of the Semitic pronoun (independent and suffix pronoun) are a reduction of an original tripartite system, the suffix pronoun assuming functions of the dependent pronoun.
The numerous paradigms of the Berber and Chadic pronouns can be reduced to the same three basic paradigms. They can on their part be reduced to two, insofar as the independent and the dependent pronouns are ultimately of the same origin.
Correlation of noun cases and pronoun paradigms in Proto-Afroasiatic: Absolutive case nouns with 1. absolute pronoun (A), and 2. dependent pronoun (B); and nominative case nouns with 1. suffix pronoun (C), and 2. conjugation morpheme.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
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Introduction
- Afroasiatic 1
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Part I. Afroasiatic
- Did Proto-Afroasiatic have marked nominative or nominative-accusative alignment? 11
- The limits and potentials of cladistics in Semitic 23
- Lexicostatistical evidence for Ethiosemitic, its subgroups, and borrowing 41
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Part II. Forms and functions
- Reconsidering the ‘perfect’–‘imperfect’ opposition in the Classical Arabic verbal system 61
- The imperfective in Berber 85
- Condition, interrogation and exception 105
- The semantics of modals in Kordofanian Baggara Arabic 131
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Part III. Predication and beyond
- Insubordination in Modern South Arabian 153
- Possessive and genitive constructions in Dahālik (Ethiosemitic) 167
- The characterization of conditional patterns in Old Babylonian Akkadian 185
- Locative predication in Chadic 203
- Unipartite clauses 235
- The Interaction of state, prosody and linear order in Kabyle (Berber) 261
- Index 287
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
-
Introduction
- Afroasiatic 1
-
Part I. Afroasiatic
- Did Proto-Afroasiatic have marked nominative or nominative-accusative alignment? 11
- The limits and potentials of cladistics in Semitic 23
- Lexicostatistical evidence for Ethiosemitic, its subgroups, and borrowing 41
-
Part II. Forms and functions
- Reconsidering the ‘perfect’–‘imperfect’ opposition in the Classical Arabic verbal system 61
- The imperfective in Berber 85
- Condition, interrogation and exception 105
- The semantics of modals in Kordofanian Baggara Arabic 131
-
Part III. Predication and beyond
- Insubordination in Modern South Arabian 153
- Possessive and genitive constructions in Dahālik (Ethiosemitic) 167
- The characterization of conditional patterns in Old Babylonian Akkadian 185
- Locative predication in Chadic 203
- Unipartite clauses 235
- The Interaction of state, prosody and linear order in Kabyle (Berber) 261
- Index 287
