Article published in:
Studies in Language
Vol. 43:3 (2019) ► pp. 715–751

Differential nominal marking in Circassian

| Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences | Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow
| Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences | Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow

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.

Keywords: differential case marking, Circassian languages, pseudo-incorporation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Circassian languages
  • 3.Differential nominal marking in Circassian: The basics
    • 3.1The Absolutive contexts
    • 3.2The Oblique contexts
    • 3.3Summary
  • 4.Circassian DNM as Pseudo-Incorporation?
    • 4.1Pseudo-incorporation
    • 4.2Evidence for PI in Circassian
    • 4.3Evidence against PI in Circassian
    • 4.4Summary
  • 5.Abaza: Pseudo-Incorporation without case
  • 6.Discussion and conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 18 November 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.18063.ark
References
Abney, Steven P.
1987 The English Noun Phrase in its Sentential Aspect. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology dissertation.Google Scholar
Aguilar-Guevara, Ana, Bert Le Bruyn & Joost Zwarts
(eds.) 2014 Weak Referentiality. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Aissen, Judith
2003 Differential object marking: Iconicity vs. economy. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 21(3). 435–448. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Alexiadou, Artemis
2014 Multiple Determiners and the Structure of DPs. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Arkadiev, Peter
2006 Dvuxpadežnye sistemy v indoiranskix jazykax: Tipologičeskaja perspektiva (=Two-term case systems in the Indo-Iranian languages: A typological perspective). In: M. N. Bogoljubov (red.), Indoiranskoe jazykoznanie i tipologija jazykovyx situacij. Sbornik statej k 75-letiju professora A.L. Grjunberga (1930–1995) (=Indo-Iranian linguistics and the typology of linguistic situations. Studies for the 75th anniversary of Professor A.L. Grjunberg), 74–92. Saint-Petersburg: Nauka.Google Scholar
Arkadiev, Peter M. & Yury A. Lander
Forthcoming. The North-West Caucasian languages. To Appear. In Maria Polinsky ed. The Oxford Handbook of the Languages of the Caucasus
Arkadiev, Peter M. & Alexander B. Letuchiy
2011 Prefixes and suffixes in the Adyghe polysynthetic wordform: Types of interaction. In Vittorio S. Tomelleri, Manana Topadze & Anna Lukianowicz (eds.), Languages and Cultures in the Caucasus, 495–514. München, Berlin: Otto Sagner.Google Scholar
Bagirokova, Irina, Yury Lander & Paul Phelan
Submitted. Number in West Circassian. In Paolo Acquaviva & Michael Daniel eds. Number in the World’s Languages Berlin Mouton de Gruyter
Baker, Mark
2011 On the syntax of surface-adjacency: The case of pseudo noun incorporation. Ms., Rutgers University.Google Scholar
Borik, Olga & Berit Gehrke
(eds.) 2015 The Syntax and Semantics of Pseudo-Incorporation. (Syntax & Semantics Vol. 40). Leiden, Boston: Brill. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bossong, Georg
1985 Empirische Universalienforschung: Differentielle Objektmarkierung in den neuiranischen Sprachen. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar
1998 Le marquage différentiel de l’objet dans les langues d’Europe. In Jack Feuillet (ed.), Actance et Valence dans les Language de l’Europe, 193–258. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gryuter.Google Scholar
Caponigro, Ivano & Maria Polinsky
2011 Relative embeddings: A Circassian puzzle for the syntax/semantics interface. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory. 29(1). 71–122. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Comrie, Bernard
1979 “Definite” and “animate” direct objects: a natural class? Linguistica Silesiana 31. 13–21.Google Scholar
Dalrymple, Mary & Irina Nikolaeva
2011 Objects and information structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dayal, Veneeta
2011 Hindi pseudo-incorporation. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory. 29(1). 123–167. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
de Hoop, Helen & Andrej Malchukov
2007 On fluid differential case marking: a bidirectional OT account. Lingua 1171. 1636–1656. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2008 Case marking strategies. Linguistic Inquiry 39(4). 565–587. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
de Hoop, Helen & Peter de Swart
(eds.) 2009 Differential Subject Marking (Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 72). Dordrecht: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
de Swart, Peter
2007 Cross-linguistic Variation in Object Marking. Utrecht: LOT Publications.Google Scholar
Dixon, Robert M. W.
1979 Ergativity. Language 55(1). 59–138. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dodyxudoeva, Lejla R.
2000 Pamirskie jazyki [The Pamir languages]. In: Rastorgueva, Vera S. et al. (eds.) Jazyki mira. Iranskie jazyki. III. Vostočnoiranskie jazyki. [Languages of the World. Iranian languages. III. The East Iranian languages], 170–174. Moskva: Indrik.Google Scholar
Dryer, Matthew S.
2013 Definite articles. In Matthew S. Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds.), The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. (Available online at http://​wals​.info​/chapter​/37, Accessed on 2018-08-11.)
Du Bois, John
2003 Argument structure: Grammar in use. In John Du Bois, Lorraine Kumpf & William Ashby (eds.), Preferred argument structure: Grammar as architecture for Function, 11–60. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Edel’man, Džoj I.
1966 Jazguljamskij jazyk (=The Yazghulāmī Language). Moscow: Nauka.Google Scholar
Enç, Mürvet
1991 The semantics of specificity. Linguistic Inquiry 22(1). 1–25.Google Scholar
Fajzov, M.
1966 Jazyk rušancev sovetskogo Pamira (=The Language of the Rošani of the Soviet Pamir). Dušanbe: Akademija Nauk Tadžikskoj SSR.Google Scholar
Fauconnier, Stephanie & Jean-Christophe Verstraete
2014 A and O as each other’s mirror image? Problems with markedness reversal. Linguistic Typology 18(1). 3–49. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gorbet, Larry Paul
1976 A Grammar of Diegueño Nominals. New York, London: Garland.Google Scholar
Grossman, Eitan
2014 Case in Coptic: what’s ‘coded’? Paper from the Workshop on ‘Case and Agreement: Between Grammar and Pragmatics’. Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Hardy, Donald E.
1988 The Semantics of Creek Morphosyntax. Houston, TX: Rice University PhD Thesis.Google Scholar
2005 Creek. In Heather K. Hardy & Janine Scancarelli (eds.), Native Languages of the Southeastern United States, 200–245. Lincoln, London: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin
2008 Frequency and iconicity in explaining grammatical asymmetries. Cognitive Linguistics 19(1). 1–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2018 Are we making progress in understanding Differential Object Marking? Diversity Linguistics Comment. https://​dlc​.hypotheses​.org​/1119
2019 Role-reference associations and the explanation of argument coding splits. http://​ling​.auf​.net​/lingbuzz​/004047
Hewitt, B. George
1979 Abkhaz. Amsterdam: North Holland.Google Scholar
Iemmolo, Giorgio
2010 Topicality and differential object marking: Evidence from Romance and beyond. Studies in Language 34(2). 239–272. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2011 Towards a typological study of differential object marking and differential object indexation. Tesi di dottorato, Università degli studi di Pavia.Google Scholar
Kamali, Beste
2008 Phases of incorporation and a three-way distinction for direct objects (in Turkish). Talk given at the 5th Workshop of Altaic Formal Linguistics. SOAS. London.
Kjuseva, Maria & Svetlana Pavlova
2015 Vyraženie lokativnyx značenij v glagolax dviženija v kubanskom dialekte kabardinskogo jazyka [The expression of spatial meanings with verbs of motion in Kuban dialect of Kabardian]. Fieldwork report, Higher School of Economics, Moscow.Google Scholar
König, Christa
2008 Case in Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Korotkova, Natalia A. & Yury A. Lander
2010 Deriving suffix ordering in polysynthesis: Evidence from Adyghe. Morphology 201. 299–319. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kumaxov, Muxadin A.
1971 Slovoizmenenie adygskix jazykov [=Inflection in the Circassian languages]. Moscow: Nauka.Google Scholar
Kumakhov, Mukhadin A. & Karina Vamling
2009 Circassian Clause Structure. Malmö: Malmö University.Google Scholar
Lander, Yury A.
2012 Reljativizacija v polisintetičeskom jazyke: adygejskie otnositelʹnye konstrukcii v tipologičeskoj perspektive [Relativization in a polysynthetic language: Adyghe relative clauses in typological perspective]. Moscow: Russian State University for the Humanities PhD Dissertation.Google Scholar
2017 Nominal complex in West Circassian: Between morphology and syntax. Studies in Language 41(1). 76–98. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lander, Yury A. & Alexander B. Letuchiy
2010 Kinds of recursion in Adyghe morphology. In Harry van der Hulst (ed.), Recursion and Human Language, 263–284. Berlin, New York: Mouton De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lander, Yury A. & Yakov G. Testelets
2017 Adyghe. In Michael Fortescue, Marianne Mithun & Nicholas Evans (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Polysynthesis, 948–970. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Leonetti, Manuel
2004 Specificity and object marking: the case of Spanish a. Catalan Journal of Linguistics 31. 75–114. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Letučij, Aleksandr B.
2009 Affiksy benefaktiva i malefaktiva: sintaksi­če­skie osobennosti i krug upotreblenij [Benefactive and malefactive markers: Syntactic peculiarities and range of uses]. In Yakov G. Testelets (ed.), Aspekty polisintetizma: Očerki po grammatike adygejskogo jazyka [Aspects of polysynthesis: Studies in the grammar of West Circassian], 329–371. Moscow: Russian State University for the Humanities.Google Scholar
Letuchiy, Alexander B.
2012 Ergativity in the Adyghe system of valency-changing derivations. In Gilles Authier & Katharina Haude (eds.), Ergativity, Valency and Voice, 323–354. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Luqo, Inǰīl
2001 Luqo Inǰīl (=The Gospel of Luke in Shughnī). Moscow: Instituti tarǰumā Kitobi Muqadas.Google Scholar
Lyutikova, Ekaterina A.
2017 Agreement, case and licensing: Evidence from Tatar. Ural-Altaic Studies 251. 25–45.Google Scholar
Malchukov, Andrej & Peter de Swart
2009 Differential case marking and actancy variations. In Andrej Malchukov & Andrew Spencer (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Case, 339–355. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Massam, Diane
2001 Pseudo noun incorporation in Niuean. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 19(1). 153–197. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2009 Noun incorporation: Essentials and extensions. Language and Linguistics Compass 3(4). 1076–1096. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mazurova, Julia V.
2009 Semantika lokativnyx preverbov pə- i ṣ̂we- [Semantics of the locative preverbs pə- i ṣ̂we- ]. In Yakov G. Testelets (ed.), Aspekty polisintetizma: Očerki po grammatike adygejskogo jazyka [Aspects of polysynthesis: Studies in the grammar of West Circassian], 429–453. Мoscow: Russian State University for the Humanities.Google Scholar
Miller, Amy
2001 A Grammar of Jamul Tiipay (Mouton Grammar Library 23). Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Miner, Kenneth L.
1986 Noun Stripping and Loose Incorporation in Zuni. International Journal of American Linguistics 521. 242–254. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
O’Herin, Brian
2002 Case and Agreement in Abaza. Arlington: SIL International & University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Öztürk, Balkız
2005 Case, Referentiality and Phrase Structure. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Payne, John
1980 The decay of ergativity in Pamir languages. Lingua 511. 147–186. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pereltsvaig, Asya
2006 Small nominals. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 24(2). 433–500. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Serdobolskaya, Natalia
2011 Grammaticalization patterns of the Adyghe instrumental case. In Vittorio S. Tomelleri, Manana Topadze & Anna Lukianowicz (eds.), Languages and Cultures in the Caucasus, 515–539. München, Berlin: Otto Sagner.Google Scholar
Silverstein, Michael
1976 Hierarchy of features and ergativity. In R. M. W. Dixon (ed.), Grammatical categories in Australian Languages, 112–171. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.Google Scholar
Smeets, Rieks
1992 On valencies, actants and actant coding in Circassian. In B. G. Hewitt (ed.), Caucasian Perspectives, 98–144. München, Newcastle: LINCOM Europa.Google Scholar
Stilo, Don
2009 Case in Iranian: From reduction and loss to innovation and renewal. In Andrej Malchukov & Andrew Spencer (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Case, 700–715. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sweet, Henry
1985 An Icelandic Primer. With Grammar, Notes and Glossary. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Witzlack-Makarevich, Alena & Ilja Seržant
2018 Differential argument marking: Patterns of variation. In Ilja A. Seržant & Alena Witzlack-Makarevich (eds.), Diachrony of Differential Argument Marking, 1–40. Berlin: Language Science Press.Google Scholar
Xalbad, T. X.
1975 Vyraženie kategorij opredelennosti i neopredelennosti v abxazo-adygskix jazykax. (=The expression of the categories of definiteness and indefiniteness in the Abkhaz-Adyghe languages.). Tbilisi: Mecniereba.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 3 other publications

Arkadiev, Peter M. & Alexander Letuchiy
2021.  In Antipassive [Typological Studies in Language, 130], ► pp. 483 ff. Crossref logo
Driemel, Imke
2020. Pseudo-incorporation and its movement patterns. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 5:1 Crossref logo
Irimia, Monica Alexandrina & Anna Pineda
2022. Differential object marking in Catalan. Linguistic Variation 22:2 ► pp. 325 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 24 january 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.