Alignment change in Chukotkan

Further exploration of the pathways to ergativity

Bibliographic Data

ID20344748
AuthorsJessica Kantarovich (0000-0002-8853-9689, University of Chicago, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume36
Issue2
Pages222-261
Publication date2019-07-22
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDiachronica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0176-4225 • E-ISSN: 1569-9714
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/dia.18016.kan
OpenAlexW2964042028
LanguageEN
References cited25

This paper examines current approaches to studying alignment change and the role of language contact in the spread of ergativity, using the Chukotkan languages as a case study. Chukotkan is exceptional in that there does not appear to be a single reanalysis pathway that can account for the development of ergative case. Rather, the system appears to be the product of several changes that operated in different domains. This paper provides an alternative to an earlier account that claims that Chukotkan ergativity developed due to Yupik substrate effects, which is not supported by the historical accounts of the contact between these groups. This explanation is consistent with a problematic tendency of treating ergativity as a special phenomenon, even though ergative alignment regularly arises via internal change. Instead, I propose that the loss of split ergative case marking occurred due to the reanalysis of a passive participle, which was motivated by the tendency to encode animacy distinctions in these languages

Animacy · Epistemology · Ergative case · Linguistics · Participle · Phenomenon · Verb · Computer Science · History · Language and cultural evolution · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Mathematics · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

Tools

Open DOI