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Article published In:
Diachronic Dimensions of Alignment Typology
Edited by Eystein Dahl
[Diachronica 38:3] 2021
► pp. 413–456

Pathways to split ergativity

The rise of ergative alignment in Anatolian and Indo-Aryan

ORCID logo | UiT – The Arctic University of Norway | Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt a.M.
This paper reassesses the rise of ergative alignment in Anatolian and Indo-Aryan, two branches of the Indo-European linguistic family. Both of these branches acquire split-ergative morphosyntax in the course of their history but via different grammaticalization paths and with different results. In the Anatolian language Hittite, a denominative derivational suffix develops into an ergative case marker, which is restricted to so-called neuter nouns. In Indo-Aryan, on the other hand, a new ergative category with anterior aspectual semantics emerges in Middle Indo-Aryan originating from a P-oriented resultative construction in Old Indo-Aryan.
Keywords: alignment change, case marking, agreement, Indo-European, Anatolian, Indo-Aryan
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Terminological and theoretical preliminaries
  • 3.The development of split-ergativity in Anatolian and Indo-Aryan
    • 3.1Philological preliminaries
    • 3.2The rise of NP-based split-ergativity in Hittite
    • 3.3The development of aspect-based split ergativity in Old and Middle Indo-Aryan
  • 4.Emerging NP-based and aspect-based split-ergativity: The case of Anatolian and Indo-Aryan
  • 5.Summary and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 11 August 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.19046.dah
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