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Article published In:
Studies in Language
Vol. 41:3 (2017) ► pp.717–780

Multiple ergatives

From allomorphy to differential agent marking

| Institute of Slavic Studies RAS/RSUH/MSPU, Moscow

This paper presents a cross-linguistic survey of case systems with several non-phonologically distributed markers of ergative case, based on a convenience sample of more than 70 languages from all over the world. It is shown that in most languages the distribution of different ergative markers splits along the lines predicted by the referential hierarchy (local pronouns > non-local pronouns > proper names > kinship terms > humans > nonhumans > inanimates), thus complementing the much better known ergativity splits. Other types of conditioning of “multiple ergatives” include gender, such nominal morphosyntactic features as number and (in)definiteness, as well as clausal morphosyntactic features like tense/aspect, polarity and person of co-arguments. “Fluid” systems where the choice of ergative marker is based on semantic or pragmatic factors are attested as well. The article also discusses the implications of ergative allomorphy and ergative alternations for the typology of ergativity and case marking in general.

Keywords: case, morphology, allomorphy, ergativity, referential hierarchies
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The domain of inquiry
  • 3.Language sample and overview of the typology
  • 4.Ergative allomorphy conditioned by lexical-semantic class of the nominal
    • 4.1Two-way systems
      • 1st singular vs. others
      • 2nd singular vs. others
      • 1st person + 2nd singular + 3rd person vs. others
      • Local pronouns vs. others
    • 4.2More than two-way systems
    • 4.3Phonology of allomorphs
    • 4.4Summary
  • 5.Ergative allomorphy conditioned by nominal morphosyntactic features
  • 6.“Multiple ergatives” conditioned by clause-level features
    • 6.1Tense-aspect based “multiple ergatives”
    • 6.2Polarity-based multiple ergatives
    • 6.3Coargument-based “multiple ergatives”
    • 6.4Summary
  • 7.“Fluid” “multiple ergative” marking
  • 8.Discussion and conclusion
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 25 October 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.41.3.06ark
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Arkadiev, Peter
2021.  Typological hierarchies in synchrony and diachrony. (Typological Studies in Language 121.) Amsterdam. Linguistic Typology 25:3 ► pp. 631 ff. DOI logo
Cheng, Yi-Yang
2023. Tense-aspect conditioned agent marking in Kanakanavu, an Austronesian language of Taiwan. Open Linguistics 9:1 DOI logo
Haspelmath, Martin
2019. Ergativity and depth of analysis. Rhema :4, 2019 ► pp. 108 ff. DOI logo
Nordlinger, Rachel & Evan Kidd
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