Ergativity

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

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2. Part-I The Cases

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 2-2

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   2. The Locus of Ergative Case Assignment: Evidence from Scope

      • PRANAV ANAND, ANDREW NEVINS

      Pages 3-25

   3. Neither Absolutive nor Ergative is Nominative or Accusative

      • DIANE MASSAM

      Pages 27-46

   4. Eccentric Agreement and Multiple Case Checking

      • JONATHAN DAVID BOBALJIK, PHIL BRANIGAN

      Pages 47-77

   5. Syntactic Ergativity in Tongan

      • YUKO OTSUKA

      Pages 79-107

3. Part ll-Splits

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 110-110

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   2. A Parametric Syntax of Aspectually Conditioned Split-Ergativity

      • HIROYUKI URA

      Pages 111-141

   3. Split Absolutive

      • JULIE ANNE LEGATE

      Pages 143-171

   4. Deriving Split Ergativity in the Progressive

      • ITZIAR LAKA

      Pages 173-195

   5. On 'Ergativity' in Halkomelem Salish

      • MARTINA WILTSCHKO

      Pages 197-227

   6. Tree-Geometric Relational Hierarchies and Nuumiipuutímt (Nez Perce) Case

      • ANDREW CARNIE, PHILLIP CASH

      Pages 229-244

4. Part lll-Antipassive

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 246-246

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   2. Antipassive Morphology and Case Assignment in Inuktitut

      • BETTINA SPRENG

      Pages 247-270

   3. The Ergativity Parameter: A View from Antipassive

      • JUVENAL NDAYIRAGIJE

      Pages 271-292

   4. Ergativity and Change in Inuktitut

      • ALANA JOHNS

      Pages 293-311

5. Part IV -The Range of Ergativity

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 314-314

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   2. Ergativity in Austronesian Languages

      • ILEANA PAUL, LISA TRAVIS

      Pages 315-335

   3. The Split Verb as a Source of Morphological Ergativity

      • EGOR TSEDRYK

      Pages 337-363

6. Back Matter

   Pages 365-372

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This volume presents a collection of papers on the enticing and complex theme of Ergativity. The papers exemplify theoretical depth applied to a wide range of languages, with the majority of papers based on original fieldwork. Ergativity refers to a grammatical pattern in which the logical subject of intransitive clauses and the logical object of transitive clauses share some grammatical features, and in this respect differ from transitive subjects. The shared features are often case and/or agreement, but a variety of other relevant features have also been isolated in the literature. The ergative pattern contrasts with that found in accusative languages where the subject has the same grammatical marking in intransitive and transitive clauses, while the object has different marking. Ergativity provides us with an ideal testing ground for claims about the range and limits of language variation, and about the degree of elasticity in the morphology-syntax interface. However, because an understanding of ergativity rests on an understanding of other difficult grammatical issues such as grammatical relations, transitivity, aspect, person, case, and agreement, a clear and integrated analysis of the phenomenon has remained elusive. Since Dixon’s (1967/1972) pioneer study of Dyirbal, extensive research has been conducted on a variety of ergative languages over the world from both descriptive, typological, and theoretical perspectives (see inter alia Anderson 1976, Silverstein 1976, Comrie 1978, Dixon 1979, 1994, DeLancey 1981, Marantz 1984, Levin & Massam 1985, Johns 1992, Bittner and Hale 1996, to name a few).

• Index
• Morphological
• Nominativ
• Syntax
• Verb
• morphology
• progressive
• syntactic

From the reviews:

"...an important and valuable resource due to two factors: (i) its theoretical import concerning issues related to ergativity, and (ii) data from many endangered languages, often coming from the author's own fieldwork." (Patrycja Jablonska, LinguistList 19.2107)

• University of Toronto, Canada

  ALANA JOHNS, DIANE MASSAM, JUVENAL NDAYIRAGIJE

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