Chapter published in:
Typological Hierarchies in Synchrony and Diachrony
Edited by Sonia Cristofaro and Fernando Zúñiga
[Typological Studies in Language 121] 2018
► pp. 191–216

Diachrony and the referential hierarchy in Old Irish

| Universiteit Utrecht
A set of Old Irish clitic person markers may co-index subject or object markers on the verb. Only one clitic of this set may appear at a time, however. The clitic, if present, indexes the verbal argument highest on the scale 1st person > 2nd person > 3rd person animate > inanimate. The restriction of one clitic per verb, a prerequisite for the hierarchy, is explained here as a result of the deictic origin of the clitic set. The deictic origin further favors the marking of local persons over non-local persons. For the upper and lower end of the hierarchy, however, the ranking appears to be determined rather by considerations of function. Since the clitics can mark topics, they favor 1st persons over 2nd and animates over inanimates.
Published online: 26 July 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.121.05gri
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Cristofaro, Sonia & Fernando Zúñiga
2018.  In Typological Hierarchies in Synchrony and Diachrony [Typological Studies in Language, 121], ► pp. 4 ff. Crossref logo

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