The noun phrase hierarchy and relational marking: Problems and counterevidence

Filimonova, Elena

doi:10.1515/lity.2005.9.1.77

Cited by 51 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Our results are furthermore consistent with recent findings that referential hierarchies are much less important for argument coding in general (through agreement or case) than previously assumed (see Filimonova 2005;Bickel 2008;Phillipps 2013;Fauconnier and Verstraete 2014;Bickel et al 2015b). …”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 92%

Decomposing hierarchical alignment: Co-arguments as conditions on alignment and the limits of referential hierarchies as explanations in verb agreement

et al. 2016

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Apart from common cases of differential argument marking, referential hierarchies affect argument marking in two ways: (a) through hierarchical marking, where markers compete for a slot and the competition is resolved by a hierarchy, and (b) through co-argument sensitivity, where the marking of one argument depends on the properties of its co-argument. Here we show that while co-argument sensitivity cannot be analyzed in terms of hierarchical marking, hierarchical marking can be analyzed in terms of co-argument sensitivity. Once hierarchical effects on marking are analyzed in terms of co-argument sensitivity, it becomes possible to examine alignment patterns relative to referential categories in exactly the same way as one can examine alignment patterns relative to referential categories in cases of differential argument marking and indeed any other condition on alignment (such as tense or clause type). As a result, instances of hierarchical marking of any kind turn out not to present a special case in the typology of alignment, and there is no need for positing an additional non-basic alignment type such as "hierarchical alignment". While hierarchies are not needed for descriptive and comparative purposes, we also cast doubt on their relevance in diachrony: examining two families for which hierarchical agreement has been postulated, Algonquian and Kiranti, we find only

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 92%

Decomposing hierarchical alignment: Co-arguments as conditions on alignment and the limits of referential hierarchies as explanations in verb agreement

et al. 2016

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“…Beyond diversity in the status of patterns like person-based split ergativity, the extra-grammatical origin of hierarchy effects has the potential to explain why hierarchy effects come into grammar to such a variety of degrees. Languages may fail to encode hierarchy effects in case-marking, or in various instances, show patterns directly contrary 24 to the hierarchy (Filimonova 2005, Bickel & Witzlack-Makarevich 2008, Legate 2014. This is in addition to the fact that when languages do show hierarchy effects, multiple distinct types of mechanisms may be involved.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Person-based split ergativity in Nez Perce is syntactic

Deal

2015

J. Ling.

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Nez Perce is one among many ergative languages that consistently use nominative case, rather than ergative, for 1st and 2nd person transitive subjects. Two major lines of analysis have been proposed for the synchronic grammar of this type of ergative split. Morphological analyses approach the phenomenon as a case of syncretism between ergative and nominative in 1st and 2nd person; all transitive subjects are assigned an identical syntax. Syntactic analyses posit a featural or structural distinction between 3rd person subjects and 1st and 2nd person subjects, or the clauses containing them. On the basis of modification and coordination patterns, I argue that person-based split ergativity in Nez Perce requires a syntactic analysis. Comparison of the Nez Perce data with recent findings by Legate (2014) reveals variation among languages showing person-based split ergativity: some languages require a morphological analysis, and some (like Nez Perce) require a syntactic analysis. A treatment of the syntactic type of person-based split ergativity is proposed, making use of person-sensitive phrase structure as introduced by Bianchi (2006) and Merchant (2006).

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“…But Silverstein's hierarchy itself (and the related universal) shows exceptions, as reported by Filimonova (2005).…”

Section: Exceptions To Silverstein's Hierarchymentioning

confidence: 93%

“…I can mention Francisco Villar, University of Salamanca, Spain, and Alan Rumsey, Australia. I had no possibility to consult the originals of Villar's papers on the subject, but I am confident that the report of them which is done in Rumsey (1987), Ledo-Lemos (2003), Sánchez-Lafuente Andrés (2006), Bauer (2000) and Filimonova (2005) is reliable enough. I will here focus on the arguments set forth by Rumsey.…”

Section: Challenging the Ergative Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Proto-Indo-European Ergativity… Still to be Discussed

Bavant

2008

Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics

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Since Uhlenbeck's seminal article ("Agens und Patiens im Kasussystem der indogermanischen Sprachen", 1901) many scholars have accepted the hypothesis of an ergative case in Proto-IndoEuropean (PIE) given the light it could shed on obscure facts discovered by the comparatist school inside the IE family. The Soviet linguistic school has been particularly active on ergativity in relation with their interests for living languages of the Caucasus and for ancient languages of the Middle East. More recent works on ergativity have shifted the focus to Australian languages. When the theory of language universals took ergativity into consideration, scholars began to seek an explanation of the so-called "split ergativity" in relation with Silverstein's animacy hierarchy. A sequel of this was that the kind of split ergativity demonstrated by PIE seemed contrary to the accepted universals and, consequently, discarded. This paper challenges the way language universals have been used to refute the PIE ergativity hypothesis. Indeed, the influence of the animacy hierarchy is known to be effective in many languages, but more as a tendency than as an absolute universal. Also, PIE is not a fully-fledged language, but rather a field of experimentation. I also present the viewpoint that PIE could have had no split at all, but solely a semantic impossibility to use inanimate noun phrases in an agent role, which seemed backed up by similar "embarrassments" in modern languages and by the so-called "Hittite ergative".

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The noun phrase hierarchy and relational marking: Problems and counterevidence

Cited by 51 publications

References 9 publications

Decomposing hierarchical alignment: Co-arguments as conditions on alignment and the limits of referential hierarchies as explanations in verb agreement

Decomposing hierarchical alignment: Co-arguments as conditions on alignment and the limits of referential hierarchies as explanations in verb agreement

Person-based split ergativity in Nez Perce is syntactic

Proto-Indo-European Ergativity… Still to be Discussed

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