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<p class=MsoNormal>I’ve been reading about LFG and hanging around LFG
events for several years now, and I figure it’s about time for me to
start trying to write some within the theory. I have worked in Abaza, a
Northwest Caucasian language, and there are some constructions in the language
I would like to investigate. I’m wondering if anyone has looked at these
issues before or is maybe interested in working together on any of these
topics. Even getting pointed in the right direction would be helpful.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>First, I’m interested in the difference between
predicate and attributive adjectives. I recently came across the PredLink idea
in the “Grammar Cookbook” and this was new to me. Is it still being
used? I had a student a couple years ago working on a Sino-Tibetan language
with no overt copula, and we spent a long time trying to figure out how to deal
with that. We got hung up on the fact that we needed two lexical entries for
almost every adjective – one with a SUBJ and one without. (Not to mention
the problems that causes when one comes to predicate nominal constructions.) I
think I can see how the PredLink might solve that, but it seems to me it would
need to be introduced by annotation on a c-str rule rather than associated with
a lexical item like a copula. Abaza is different: there is no copula (actually
there is a copular construction, but I’m pretty sure it’s borrowed,
it’s used more for predicate nominals than for predicate adjectives, and
it isn’t nearly as widely used as the non-copular construction), but
there is predicative morphology on the predicate adjective, indicating tense
and mood (in the stative system, as opposed to dynamic, which is what most
verbs are). In that case, it seems the PredLink would be introduced by an
annotation on the lexical entry for the adjective (specifically introduced by
the morphology). Prior to coming across the PredLink analysis, I had been
assuming that the predicative morphology would introduce a SUBJ, but there are
complications with that, too.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>(Incidentally, I’m also quite interested in the
interaction between morphology and syntax within LFG. Abaza has LOTS of verb
forms, with a very productive morphological component. In some ways, it
would be a lot easier if there were no Lexical Integrity Principle, since then
I could deal with the morphology in the syntax. That’s a whole separate
issue.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The second issue I’m especially interested in has to
do with a construction I’ve not come across in any other language, at
least not exactly like it. Abaza has overt agreement with just about everything
– subject, object, indirect object, applied object(s), causative subject,
possessor, postpositional objects, etc. The pattern is ergative-absolutive, and
it distinguishes person, number, gender and animacy. In addition, there is a
“wh-“ form (for content questions and relativized positions), which
overrides any other features. That much is not all that difficult to deal with.
The challenge is that if there is an NP elsewhere in the sentence that is
coreferent with the element that is marked by wh-agreement, the agreement for
that other NP also shows up as wh, even if it’s not in a wh position itself.
The main disclaimer is that it has to be in the right structural configuration.
In my dissertation using GB, I analyzed it as c-command, but I’m not 100%
convinced that’s right. I’m trying to go through texts to find as
many cases of this as I can, but it’s not especially common. In terms of
analyzing it within LFG, I’m not sure even where to begin, so I would
appreciate any help or direction I can get.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Handwriting";
color:#4F6228'>Brian<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"'>Brian
O'Herin, PhD<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"'>International
Linguistics Coordinator<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"'>SIL
International<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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