The morphology and syntax of ergativity: a typological approach
Date
2017
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
This dissertation seeks to answer three loosely-related questions regarding
ergativity. First, what is the nature of the morphological phenomena known as
ERG=GEN and ERG=POSS? After providing a thorough description with ample
data from a wide range of sources, a typological survey of 40 ergative languages concludes
that together, they are a fairly common phenomenon, occurring in over half the
languages in the sample and across all types of ergative languages cross-linguistically.
Furthermore, these ergative patterns of syncretism occur at a higher rate than their
nominative and accusative counterparts do, according to an equivalent sample of 40
accusative languages. The next question is theoretical in nature: what is the best way
to model these syncretic patterns in the grammar? ERG=GEN and ERG=POSS
are shown to follow straightforwardly from existing theories of case and agreement;
however, for those rarer, non-ergative patterns, it is argued that a fundamentally
different process of ‘recycling’ takes place in a somewhat random fashion. Finally,
what is the relationship between morphological ergativity and syntactic ergativity?
In a marked departure from existing theories in the literature, the last major chapter
in the dissertation argues that cross-linguistically, the primary function of ergative
extraction asymmetries is actually disambiguation in ¯ A-extraction, thus weakening
the close connection to morphological ergativity which has been previously claimed.
Indeed, new data is presented showing that the alignment of extraction asymmetries
is not always consistent with morphological alignment, increasing our current
understanding of the relationship between these two components of grammar.