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Dear Nino,
<p>you asked:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE>
<pre>I would really appreciate it if you could give me any references on
reflexives in subject position. Or perhaps any of you know a language(s)
allowing reflexives in subject position.</pre>
</blockquote>
<p><br>I guess you will receive a considerable number of positive answers
referring to East Caucasian. In fact I think that the use of reflexives
in 'subject' position is documented in many (if not most) of these languages.
Let me just quote three examples from Udi (South East Caucasian):
<p>(1) ich Baqi-x kar-re-xa
<br> REFL:ABS Baku-DAT2 live-3SG:S-LV-INTRANS:PRES
<br> '(S)he lives in Baku.'
<p>(2) ich-en ish'oun ash-ne-b-sa
<br> REFL-ERG at=night work-3SG:A-LV:TRANS-PRES
<br> '(S)he works at night'
<p>(3) ich-u ich a"iel-gh-ox gölö-t'u buq'-sa
<br> REFL-DAT REFL:POSS child-PL-DAT2
much-3SG:IO love-PRES
<br> '(S)he loves her children
evry much'
<p>(1) is intransitive, (2) is transitive [ergative case], (3) is 'indirect'
(or 'inversion' or a verbum sentiendi construction'...]. Note that agreement
always is 'accusative' (S=A(=IO)).
<p>The function of headless reflexives in Udi seems to be to emphasize
coreference in referential tracking (normally on an accusative basis (S=A)).
I have tested the use of 'headless reflexives' with other persons than
non-SAP. The results were ambigous. Some informants accepted a construction
like (4), others didn't.
<p>(4) ? ich Baqi-x kar-zu-exa
<br> REF:ABS Baku-DAT2
live-1SG:S-LV:INTRANS:PRES
<br> 'I (myself)
live in Baku.'
<p>Most informants did not accept SAP-related 'headless reflexives' as
A in transitive constructions except in questions addressing SAP(2), cf.:
<p>(5) ich-en fi-n ugh-sa?
<br> REFL-ERG wine-2SG:A drink-PRES
<br> 'Do YOU drink wine?'
<p>I assume that the use of headless reflexives is related to the emphatic
function that reflexives have in East Cauacsian (esp. in Lezgian languages),
cf. Tabasaran:
<p>(6) dumu uchw chan bazhr-a-qadzhi shah-r-s ghush-nu
<br> he:ABS REFL:ABS REFL:GEN
son-SA-COM town-SA-DAT go-AOR
<br> 'He himself went with his
son into the town.'
<p>(7) uzu uchw dzhanuwar k'unu-za
<br> I:ABS REFL:ABS wolf kill:past-1SG:A
<br> 'I myself killed the wolf.'
<p>In (7) the reflexive copies the 'accusative' behavior (ABS instead of
ERG) of the SAP(1) pronoun, contrary e.g. to Aghul (Kurag):
<p>(8) zun uch-i aq'une kar
<br> I:ABS REFL-ERG make:AOR
work
<br> 'I did the work myself.'
<p>The dropping of the pronoun leads to either an ergative or absolutive
coding of the reflexive, depending on which strategy the language prefers
[(7) or (8)], cf. (9) which is an ambigous construction in Aghul (Burshag)
[no personal agreement]:
<p>(9) che k'inaw huch
<br> REFL:ERG kill:PAST wolf
<br> 'I/you/(s)he.... killed
the wolf.'
<p>I hope that helps,
<p>Wolfgang
<p>--
<br>*****************************
<br>Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulze
<br>Institut fuer Allgemeine und Indogermanische Sprachwissenschaft
<br>Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet München
<br>Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1
<br>D-80539 München
<br>Tel.: +89-21805343 / Fax: +89-21805345
<br>Email: W.Schulze@lrz.uni-muenchen.de
<br><A HREF="http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~wschulze/">http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~wschulze/</A>
<br>*****************************
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