The ergative-antipassive alternation in Inuktitut: Analyzed in a case of new-dialect formation

Abstract

This paper analyzes the ergative-antipassive alternation in Inuktitut using a variationist sociolinguistic approach. This alternation is not a typical linguistic variable, as these constructions are traditionally believed to have different syntactic functions. However, the nature of those functions remains controversial (e.g., Bittner 1987, Manga 1996), and they are undergoing changes in some dialects (e.g., Johns 2001, Carrier 2012), with the antipassive being increasingly used in place of the ergative. Thus, a variationist sociolinguistic approach is employed here to identify the significant functions of these constructions, and to find the specific context where they overlap and the language change is taking place. The study examines data collected in Resolute Bay, Nunavut, which presents a case of new-dialect formation due to the High Arctic relocation. The analysis reveals the functions of these constructions, describes the source of fading ergativity for the dialects considered in this study, and supports Trudgill's (2004) theory on new-dialect formation.

Alignment shift as functional markedness reversal

“…3 The classification of dialects as more conservative or more innovative in this paper is based on our analysis of the literature and made exclusively in relation to the functional properties of ergative and antipassive constructions (but see also Dresher &Johns 1996: 114 andDorais 2003: 33 for a similar division of Inuktitut based on phonological features). Following Johns (2017), Yuan (2018) and Carrier (2017), we treat Quebec-Labrador dialects as the most innovative of the Inuktitut varieties. Accordingly, we class Kivalliq and Baffin varieties as more conservative.…”

“…Given that the alignment shift is ongoing in Inuktitut (see e.g. Carrier 2017Carrier , 2021, variation can be expected, reflecting different stages in the shift. 4 The Inuktitut data is summarised from the extensive literature on Eskimo-Aleut.…”

“…Although there is some disagreement as to whether this applies to the Inuktitut antipassive (cf. Clarke 2009;Carrier 2017;Compton 2017: 20-21), Spreng (2006Spreng ( : 11, 2010Spreng ( : 563, 2012 22 argues that there is an aspectual difference between the ergative and antipassive with respect to their neutral (or 'out-of-context') interpretation. For example, in Mittimatalik, a dialect spoken in the Northern region of Baffin Island, the ergative pattern yields a perfective interpretation, as in (10a).…”

“…25 Hallman (2008) presents similar evidence from South Baffin (Baffin region), demonstrating that P in the ergative construction typically refers back to an argument previously mentioned in discourse, whilst antipassive P introduces new discourse referents. 26 Readers should keep in mind that the discourse frequency data reported for North Baffin was collected by Carrier (2017) in the Inuit community of Resolute Bay, where the author investigates a case of new dialect formation between two dialects (including North Baffin) after the High Arctic Relocation that occurred in the 1950s. Nevertheless, the data reflects the general tendency of more conservative dialects of Eastern Canadian Inuktitut in which ergative constructions tend to be more frequent than antipassives.…”

“…This can be observed in Eskimo-Aleut, more specifically Inuktitut, where the shift from ergative to accusative is driven by the reanalysis of the antipassive construction, (1b), as the basic transitive construction (see e.g. Johns 1999Johns , 2001Johns , 2006Spreng 2005;Carrier 2012Carrier , 2017Carrier , 2021Yuan 2018).…”