Nominal complex in West Circassian

In this paper we describe a peculiar pattern of case alternation from the polysynthetic Circassian (West Caucasian) languages, where specificity-driven differential marking of noun phrases is attested in all syntactic positions and with the absolutive and the oblique cases alike. We call this phenomenon differential nominal marking (DNM). We show that the presenсe resp. absenсe of overt case marking in Circassian fits in the two-level (DP vs. NP) structural model for nominal constructions and is in some ways similar to the phenomenon of pseudo-incorporation described for various languages with differential object marking. For instance, unmarked nominals in Circassian show number-neutrality and scope inertness with respect to negation and quantifiers. However, DNM in Circassian crucially differs from all known instances of pseudo-incorporation or case alternation in that it is not restricted to any particular syntactic position. We argue that this feature of the Circassian DNM calls all the existing approaches (both functionalist and generative) to the phenomenon of differential case marking in question.

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Morphological Theory and Typology

Arkadiev¹,

Klamer²

2018

The Oxford Handbook of Morphological Theory

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Morphology, by its very language-specific nature, poses conceptual, methodological, and empirical problems for both linguistic theory and language typology. This chapter offers an overview of major issues in morphological typology, starting with the controversial definitions of basic notions such as ‘wordform’ and ‘lexeme’, and proceeding to the classification of morphological phenomena along the syntagmatic and paradigmatic axes. It is argued that traditional dichotomies such as ‘inflection’ vs. ‘derivation’ or ‘agglutination’ vs. ‘flexion’ are to by replaced by multidimensional classifications based on a broad empirical coverage of morphological phenomena attested in human languages, and that only through a mutually informed fruitful interaction of typologists and morphological theorists can an adequate cross-linguistically valid and analytically sophisticated model of morphology be attained.

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Nominal complex in West Circassian

Cited by 10 publications

References 16 publications

Two paths to polysynthesis

Two paths to polysynthesis

Differential nominal marking in Circassian

Morphological Theory and Typology

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