Cover not available
Part of
Reconnecting Form and Meaning: In honour of Kristin Davidse
Edited by Caroline Gentens, Lobke Ghesquière, William B. McGregor and An Van linden
[Studies in Language Companion Series 230] 2023
► pp. 237–265

Chapter 9
Zero-marking or nothing to mark?

The case against absolutive ‘case’ in Gooniyandi

| Aarhus University

Gooniyandi (Bunuban, Kimberley, north-west Australia), according to McGregor (1990a), has an ergative case-marker. Unusually, McGregor’s grammar does not identify a corresponding zero absolutive case-marker or case; nor does it discuss why there is none. This paper rectifies this lacuna and outlines the evidence against the recognition of an absolutive case-marker. The arguments concern both evidence for the absence of an absolutive case-marker, and absence of evidence for one. Thus it is possible to find ergativity in a grammatical subsystem of a language without corresponding absolutivity. I discuss some implications for the typology of ergativity, and examine conditions under which it is viable to identify an absolutive case and/or case-marker.

Keywords: ergative case, absolutive case, case marking, zero, Gooniyandi
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Overview of the absolutive case (marker) in Australian linguistics
  • 3.Evidence of absence – and absence of evidence – of an absolutive case marker in Gooniyandi
    • 3.1Grammatical roles in Gooniyandi
    • 3.2The absolutive case does not exist in Gooniyandi
    • 3.3The absolutive in other Australian languages
  • 4.Implications to the typology and theory of ergativity
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations and conventions
  • References
Published online: 10 February 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.230.09mcg
References
Asp, Elissa
2017 What is a system? What is a function? A study in contrasts and convergences. In The Routledge Handbook of Systemic Functional Linguistics, Tom Bartlett & Gerard O’Grady (eds), 27–41. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bickel, Balthasar & Nichols, Johanna
2009 Case marking and alignment. In The Oxford Handbook of Case, Andrej L. Malchukov & Andrew Spencer (eds), 304–321. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Blake, Barry J.
1977 Case Marking in Australian Languages. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.Google Scholar
1979 A Kalkatungu Grammar. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
1987a Australian Aboriginal Grammar. Sydney: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
1987b The grammatical development of Australian languages. Lingua 71: 179–210. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2001 Case. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bowe, Heather & Morey, Stephen
1999 The Yorta Yorta (Bangerang) Language of the Murray Goulburn: Including Yabula Yabula. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Bowern, Claire L.
2004 Bardi Verb Morphology in Historical Perspective. PhD dissertation, Harvard University.
2012 A Grammar of Bardi. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Breen, J. Gavan
1990 Salvage Studies in Western Queensland Aboriginal Languages. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Butt, Miriam
2009 Modern approaches to case. An overview. In The Oxford Handbook of Case, Andrej L. Malchukov & Andrew Spencer (eds), 27–43. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Bybee, Joan
1994 The grammaticalization of zero: Asymmetries in tense and aspect systems. In Perspectives on Grammaticalization [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 109], William Pagliuca (ed.), 235–254. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Comrie, Bernard
1978 Ergativity. In Syntactic Typology. Studies in the Phenomenology of Language, Winfred P. Lehmann (ed.), 329–374. Austin TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
2013 Alignment of case marking of full noun phrases. In The World Atlas of Language Structures Online, Matthew S. Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds), Chapter 98. Munich: Max Planck Digital Library. [URL] (28 August 2022).
Croft, William
2001 Radical Construction Grammar. Syntactic Theory in Typological Perspective. Oxford: OUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Davidse, Kristin
1999 Categories of Experiential Grammar. Nottingham: University of Nottingham.Google Scholar
DeLancey, Scott
2006 The blue bird of ergativity. Ms. [URL] (28 August 2022).
Dixon, Robert M. W.
1972 The Dyirbal Language of North Queensland. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1977 A Grammar of Yidiny. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1979 Ergativity. Language 55: 59–138. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1980 The Languages of Australia. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
1987 Studies in ergativity. Introduction. Lingua 71: 1–16. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1994 Ergativity. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2002 Australian Languages. Their Nature and Development. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dryer, Matthew S.
1997 Are grammatical relations universal? In Essays on Language Function and Language Type: Dedicated to T. Givón, Joan Bybee, John Haiman & Sandra A. Thompson (eds), 115–143. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Durie, Mark
1987 Grammatical relations in Acehnese. Studies in Language 11: 365–399. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fehn, Anne-Maria
2014 A Grammar of Ts’ixa (Kalahari Khoe). PhD dissertation, University of Cologne.
Firth, John R.
1957 Papers in Linguistics 1934–1951. London: OUP.Google Scholar
Furby, E. S. & Furby, C. E.
1977 A Preliminary Analysis of Garawa Phrases and Clauses. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Gaby, Alice
2017 A Grammar of Kuuk Thaayorre. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar
Gildea, Spike & de Castro Alves, Flávia
2010 Nominative-absolutive. Counter-universal split ergativity in Jê and Cariban. In Gildea & Queixalós (eds), 159–199. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gildea, Spike & Queixalós, Francesc
(eds) 2010 Ergativity in Amazonia [Typological Studies in Language 89]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goddard, Cliff
1982 Case systems and case marking in Australian languages. A new interpretation. Australian Journal of Linguistics 2: 167–196. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haas, William
1957 Zero in linguistic description. In Studies in Linguistic Analysis. Special Volume of the Philological Society, 33–53. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Hagman, Roy Stephen
1973 Nama Hottentot Grammar. PhD dissertation, Columbia University.
Hercus, Luise A.
1982 The Bagandji Language. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Hoddinott, William G. & Kofod, Frances
1976 Ngangikurungur. In Grammatical Categories in Australian Languages, Robert M. W. Dixon (ed.), 691–698. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.Google Scholar
1989 The Ngankikurungkurr Language (Daly River area, Northern Territory). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Hosokawa, Komei
1991 The Yawuru Language of West Kimberley. A Meaning-based Description. PhD dissertation, Australian National University.
Jones, Barbara
2003 A Grammar of Wangkajunga. A Language of the Great Sandy Desert of North Western Australia. PhD dissertation, University of Sydney.
Kikusawa, Ritsuko
2002 Proto Central Pacific Ergativity. Its Reconstruction and Development in the Fijian, Rotuman and Polynesian Languages. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Kilian-Hatz, Christa
2008 A Grammar of Modern Khwe (Central Khoisan). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.Google Scholar
König, Christa
2006 Marked nominative in Africa. Studies in Language 30(4): 655–732. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2008 Case in Africa. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
McGregor, William B.
1990a A Functional Grammar of Gooniyandi [Studies in Language Companion Series 22]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1990b An impersonal construction in Gooniyandi, Western Australia. Word 41(2): 161–184. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1994 Warrwa. Munich: Lincom.Google Scholar
1997 Semiotic Grammar. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
1998 “Optional” ergative marking in Gooniyandi revisited. Implications to the theory of marking. Leuvense Bijdragen 87: 491–534.Google Scholar
2003 The nothing that is, the zero that isn’t. Studia Linguistica 57(2): 75–119. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2006a Focal and optional ergative marking in Warrwa (Kimberley, Western Australia). Lingua 116(4): 393–423. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2006b Symbolisation in linguistic cognition. In XXXII kieliti eteen päivät ta mpereella 19.–20.5.2005 Valikoima pidettyihin esitelmiin pohjautuvista artikkeleista, Anneli Pajunen & Hannu Tommola (eds), 47–76. Tampere: Tampere University Press.Google Scholar
2008 Indexicals as sources of case markers in Australian languages. In Interdependence of Diachronic and Synchronic Analyses [Studies in Language Companion Series 134], Folke Josephson & Ingmar Söhrman (eds), 299–321. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2009 Typology of ergativity. Language and Linguistics Compass 3(1): 480–508. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010 Optional ergative case marking systems in a typological-semiotic perspective. Lingua 120(7): 1610–1636. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2012a The Nyulnyul Language of Dampier Land, Western Australia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
2012b Review of Spike Gildea & Francesc Queixalós (eds.), Ergativity in Amazonia [Typological Studies in Language 89]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins 2010 pp. v + 319. Journal of Linguistics 48(1): 238–243.Google Scholar
2013 Optionality in grammar and language use. Linguistics 51(6): 1147–1204. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2017 Grammaticalization of ergative case marking. In The Oxford Handbook of Ergativity, Jessica Coon, Diane Massam & Lisa deMena Travis (eds), 447–464. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
2018 Emergence of optional accusative case marking in Khoe languages. In Diachrony of Differential Argument Marking, Ilja A. Seržant & Alena Witzlack-Makarevich (eds), 243–279. Berlin: Language Sciences Press.Google Scholar
2021 Neo-Firthian Approaches to Linguistic Typology. Sheffield: Equinox.Google Scholar
2022 Number in Gooniyandi. In Number in the World’s Languages. A Comparative Handbook, Paolo Acquaviva & Michael Daniel (eds), 427–456. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Merlan, Francesca
1983 Ngalakan Grammar, Texts, and Vocabulary. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Mithun, Marianne & Chafe, Wallace
1999 What are S, A, and O? Studies in Language 23(3): 569–596. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moravcsik, Edith A.
1978 On the distribution of ergative and accusative patterns. Lingua 45: 233–279. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nordlinger, Rachel
1998 A Grammar of Wambaya, Northern Territory (Australia). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Palancar, Enrique L.
2009 Varieties of ergative. In The Oxford Handbook of Case, Andrej L. Malchukov & Andrew Spencer (eds), 562–571. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Payne, John R.
1980 The decay of ergativity in Pamir languages. Lingua 51: 147–186. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pensalfini, Robert
2003 Jingulu Grammar. An Aboriginal Language of the Northern Territory. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Queixalós, Francesc & Spike Gildea
2010 Manifestations of ergativity in Amazonia. In Gildea & Queixalós (eds), 1–25. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reid, Nicholas J.
2011 Ngan’gityemerri. A Language of the Daly River Region, Northern Territory of Australia. Munich: Lincom.Google Scholar
Rumsey, Alan L.
2000 Bunuba. In The Handbook of Australian Languages, Vol. 5, Robert M. W. Dixon & Barry Blake (eds), 34–152. Melbourne: OUP Australia.Google Scholar
Schultze-Berndt, Eva
2000 Simple and Complex Verbs in Jaminjung. As Study of Event Categorisation in an Australian Language. PhD dissertation, Catholic University of Nijmegen.
Seely, Jonathan
1977 An ergative historiography. Historiographia Linguistica 4: 191–206. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sharp, Janet
2004 Nyangumarta. A Language of the Pilbara Region of Western Australia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Silverstein, Michael
1976 Hierarchy of features and ergativity. In Grammatical Categories in Australian Languages, Robert M. W. Dixon (ed), 112–171. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.Google Scholar
Stokes, Bronwyn
1982 A Description of Nyigina. A Language of the West Kimberley, Western Australia. PhD dissertation, Australian National University.
Tsunoda, Tasaku
1981a The Djaru Language of Kimberley, Western Australia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
1981b Split case-marking patterns in verb-types and tense/aspect/mood. Linguistics 19: 389–438.Google Scholar
1988 Antipassives in Warrungu and other Australian languages. In Passive and Voice [Typological Studies in Language 16], Masayoshi Shibatani (ed.), 595–649. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2011 A Grammar of Warrongo. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Walsh, Michael
1976 Ergative, locative and instrumental case inflections: Murinjpata. In Grammatical Categories in Australian Languages, Robert M. W. Dixon (ed.), 405–408. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.Google Scholar
2012 The Muɹinypata Language of North-west Australia. Munich: Lincom.Google Scholar
Wilson, Stephen
1997 Coverbs and Complex Predicates in Wagiman. BA (Hons.) thesis, University of Sydney.