The ergative: Variations on a theme

Transitivity in Grammar and Discourse

Most linguists who have investigated linguistic categories from a universal viewpoint have accepted the existence of two basic parts of speech, NOUN and VERB. Other categories are found to be only inconsistently represented; thus ADJECTIVE is manifested in many languages as a class of stative verb. Furthermore, individual languages often have intermediate categories such as GERUND, which cannot be unambiguously assigned to a single category. We suggest here that the basic categories N and V are to be viewed as universal lexicalizations of the prototypical discourse functions of 'discourse-manipulable participant' and 'reported event', respectively. We find that the grammars of languages tend to label the categories N and V with morpho-syntactic markers which are iconically characteristic of these categories to the degree that a given instance of N or V approaches its prototypical function. In other words, the closer a form is to signaling this prime function, the more the language tends to recognize its function through morphemes typical of the category-e.g. deictic markers for N, tense markers for V. We conclude by suggesting that categoriality itself is another fundamental property of grammars which may be directly derived from discourse function.*

The discourse basis for lexical categories in universal grammar

Consideration of the problem of alternative agreement forms (§ 1) leads us to postulate a hierarchy of agreement positions (§ 2) which allows us to make predictions as to the possibility and relative frequency of semantic as compared to syntactic agreement. The hierarchy is justified by data from a variety of languages which permit alternative agreements (§ 3). Confirming evidence comes from a study of the instances where agreement in case and person is required in different languages (§ 4). The status of the hierarchy and the type of prediction it makes are discussed. It is suggested that the hierarchy determines the main divisions of a measure called SYNTACTIC DISTANCE and that other factors (word order, distance between controller and agreeing element, depth of stacking) determine relative degrees of distance within these main divisions (§ 5). The basic claim of the paper is that as syntactic distance increases so does the likelihood of semantic agreement.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022226700016352

The agreement hierarchy

The case of the intransitive subject in Tsova-Tush (Batsbi)

On the distribution of ergative and accusative patterns

The case for case.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Modern Languages and Linguistics. Thesis. 1968. Ph.D.

The ergative: Variations on a theme

Citations

Transitivity in Grammar and Discourse

The discourse basis for lexical categories in universal grammar

The agreement hierarchy

The case of the intransitive subject in Tsova-Tush (Batsbi)

On the distribution of ergative and accusative patterns

References

The case for case.

Deep and surface structure constraints in syntax

Einführung in die georgische Sprache

Aspects of sentence-complementation in Russian

Finnish for foreigners

Related Papers (5)

Transitivity in Grammar and Discourse

The Dyirbal language of North Queensland

On the distribution of ergative and accusative patterns

The Internal Ergative Subject Hypothesis

Ergativity: Index of languages and language families