A tale of two inverses

Bibliographic Data

ID4885593
AuthorsWill Oxford (0000-0002-4215-6076, University of Manitoba, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume26
Issue3
Pages311-354
Publication date2023-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSyntax (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1368-0005 • E-ISSN: 1467-9612
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/synt.12251
OpenAlexW4376503946
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited61

The functional-typological literature distinguishes two kinds of inverse constructions: inverse voice, in which the patient becomes the subject, and inverse alignment, in which the patient is agreed with like a canonical subject. In this literature, Algonquian languages are held to be the prototypical example of a system in which the two kinds of inverses coexist: the inverse is a "deep" voice construction in clauses with two third-person arguments and a "shallow" alignment pattern in clauses in which a third person acts on a speech-act participant. This article argues that that conclusion is correct and attempts to reconcile it with formal models of voice and agreement. It is proposed that despite their distinct syntactic underpinnings, both inverse constructions result in a derivation in which Voice lacks phi features and Infl indexes only the patient. This shared outcome explains why the inverse appears to be a unified phenomenon from a morphological perspective even though its syntactic correlates differ in third-person and speech-act-participant contexts

Epistemology · Inverse · Linguistics · Natural language processing · Perspective (graphical · Phenomenon · Subject (documents · Computer Science · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Linguistics and Discourse Analysis · Mathematics · Philosophy · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation · Artificial Intelligence

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