News from the Field
Reference tracking in Tima and its interplay with split ergative marking
Tima, a Niger-Congo language of the Sudan, shows signs of split ergativity. If its constituent order deviates from
the basic AVO order to OVA order, the postverbal agent is formally marked, unlike preverbal agents. A direct object, regardless of
its position relative to the verb, is never marked. Research so far has shown that ergative constructions are triggered by certain
participant constellations in discourse. In particular, when the speaker keeps a non-agentive participant, more specifically a
direct object, as the centre of attention in sentence-initial position, a newly introduced agent occurs postverbally and receives
ergative marking. In addition, AOV and OAV constructions are attested, both involving focus marking.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.The puzzle: Variation in constituent order
- 3.Introducing a new participant at the beginning of a text
- 3.1Text opening with a focus marked constituent
- 3.2Text opening with sentences having SV/AVO constituent order
- 4.Reference continuity and switch
- 4.1Referential identity
- 4.2Referential difference
- 5.Contrastive events
- 6.Final observations
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
References
References
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Cited by
Cited by 3 other publications
Alamin, Suzan & Gertrud Schneider-Blum
Becker, Laura & Gertrud Schneider-Blum
2020.
Morphological marking of contrast in Tima.
Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 5:1
Schneider-Blum, Gertrud
2023.
The impact of attentional centering on ergative marking in Tima.
STUF - Language Typology and Universals 76:1
► pp. 87 ff.
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