Evolution of Alignment in Timbira

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4561246
AutoresFlávia De Castro Alves (0000-0002-8275-4935, Universidade de Brasília, autor de correspondencia)
Año2010
Volumen76
Número4
Páginas439-475
Fecha de publicación2010-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaInternational Journal of American Linguistics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0020-7071 • E-ISSN: 1545-7001
EditorialUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/658054
OpenAlexW1991942697
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas16
Referencias citadas32

The Northern Jê languages (Macro-Jê stock) do not show clear patterns of splitergativity; however, a better understanding of their alignment pattern is possible, if we examine the earlier stages of these languages. This study reconstructs the ergatively organized nominalization system found in subordinate clauses in Proto-Northern Jê, which occurred as the argument of intransitive verbs of modality. These nominalized clauses were reanalyzed in pre-Timbira as main clauses and also underwent a semantic change to finite constructions, expressing recent past tense. Synchronically, Timbira displays an ergative–absolutive alignment conditioned by the expression of recent past tense, whereas Apinajé, Me$bengokré, and Suyá present the ergative alignment conditioned by the categories of tense, aspect, and modality. The former two categories are coded by certain words or morphemes in predicate position, while the latter is coded by intransitive verbs of modality, as in pre-Timbira

Ergative case · Linguistics · Modality (human–computer interaction · Morpheme · Nominalization · Noun · Predicate (mathematical logic · Programming language · Verb · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · History · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Mathematics · Philosophy · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation