What’s in the head of head-marking languages?
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Andrej A. Kibrik
Abstract
Marking of clause participants’ semantic roles is an important concern in human languages. Dependent-marking languages mark semantic roles by means of nominal case affixes. This article explores the expression of roles in head-marking languages, using Athabaskan languages of North America as the main source of evidence. In head-marking languages clause participants are represented by personal pronominal affixes on the verbs. Linear morphological positions in which personal affixes appear in Athabaskan are functionally equivalent to nominal case affixes, while the construal of positions in terms of grammatical relations is misguided. The Athabaskan verb involves the following positions: nominative, accusative, dative, and oblique. A typology of role marking in other types of languages is proposed.
Abstract
Marking of clause participants’ semantic roles is an important concern in human languages. Dependent-marking languages mark semantic roles by means of nominal case affixes. This article explores the expression of roles in head-marking languages, using Athabaskan languages of North America as the main source of evidence. In head-marking languages clause participants are represented by personal pronominal affixes on the verbs. Linear morphological positions in which personal affixes appear in Athabaskan are functionally equivalent to nominal case affixes, while the construal of positions in terms of grammatical relations is misguided. The Athabaskan verb involves the following positions: nominative, accusative, dative, and oblique. A typology of role marking in other types of languages is proposed.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- The editors vii
- The authors ix
- Preface xi
- Introduction xiii
- A deceptive case of split-intransitivity in Basque 1
- Some argument-structure properties of ‘give’ in the languages of Europe and Northern and Central Asia 17
- Grammatical relations in a typology of agreement systems 37
- Causatives in Agul 55
- Continuity of information structuring strategies in Eastern Khanty 115
- Patterns of asymmetry in argument structure across languages 133
- Topic marking and the construction of narrative in Xibe 151
- On the hierarchy of structural convergence in the Amdo Sprachbund 177
- Pyramids of spatial relators in Northeastern Turkic and its neighbors 191
- What’s in the head of head-marking languages? 211
- Transitives, causatives and passives in Korean and Japanese 241
- Core argument patterns and deep genetic relations 257
- Three takes on grammatical relations 295
- On aspect, aspectual domain and quantification in Finnish and Udmurt 325
- Indexes 355
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- The editors vii
- The authors ix
- Preface xi
- Introduction xiii
- A deceptive case of split-intransitivity in Basque 1
- Some argument-structure properties of ‘give’ in the languages of Europe and Northern and Central Asia 17
- Grammatical relations in a typology of agreement systems 37
- Causatives in Agul 55
- Continuity of information structuring strategies in Eastern Khanty 115
- Patterns of asymmetry in argument structure across languages 133
- Topic marking and the construction of narrative in Xibe 151
- On the hierarchy of structural convergence in the Amdo Sprachbund 177
- Pyramids of spatial relators in Northeastern Turkic and its neighbors 191
- What’s in the head of head-marking languages? 211
- Transitives, causatives and passives in Korean and Japanese 241
- Core argument patterns and deep genetic relations 257
- Three takes on grammatical relations 295
- On aspect, aspectual domain and quantification in Finnish and Udmurt 325
- Indexes 355
