The morphology and syntax of ergativity: a typological approach
Date
2017
Authors
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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 con- cludes 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 asymme- tries is not always consistent with morphological alignment, increasing our current understanding of the relationship between these two components of grammar.