The Morphology of Case and Possession in Balkar

Evidence that Oblique Cases Contain Accusative

Dados Bibliográficos

ID5900693
AutoresColin Davis (0000-0002-9559-0693, University of Konstanz, autor correspondente)
Ano2023
Volume8
Fascículo1
Páginas50
Data de publicação2023-02-07
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoLanguages (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2226-471X • E-ISSN: 2226-471X
EditoraMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/languages8010050
OpenAlexW4319439096
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências citadas27

This paper uses facts about case allomorphy and possessive morphology in Balkar, a Turkic language spoken in southern Russia, to contribute to the examination of the internal structure of case. A number of recent findings in morpho-syntactic research indicate that case markers have a richer internal structure than their surface appearance typically suggests. Specifically, many works in this vein argue based on cross-linguistic facts about phenomena such as suppletion and syncretism that case features are organized into an implicational containment hierarchy. In this hierarchy, accusative case contains the features of the nominative, and the accusative is itself a sub-part of oblique cases. Many arguments for case containment have relied on diagnostics that are less direct than surface-level morpho-syntactic analysis. In this paper, I argue that there is a part of Balkar grammar that shows the containment of accusative case by obliques in a surface-evident way. While such containment is not normally evident in Balkar, I argue that in certain possessed oblique NPs we see an overt expression of the accusative, except when phonological factors interfere. I go on to discuss other related topics about Balkar and the case containment hypothesis more generally

Allomorph · Dative case · Genitive case · Grammar · Hierarchy · Linguistics · Morpheme · Noun · Oblique case · Political science · Possession (linguistics · Possessive · Syncretism (linguistics · Computer Science · History · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Linguistics and Cultural Studies · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation