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Dear typologists, <br>
<br>
I want to thank all those who took the trouble to reply to my query about
languages which show instances of double absolutive marking in
two-participant clauses (in no particular order): Igone Zabala, Kameshwa
Wali, Lea Brown, Michael Daniel, Balthasar Bickel, Maria Polinsky, Tasaku
Tsunoda, Seppo Kittilä, Matt Shibatani, Peter Austin, and Greville
Corbett. A brief summary of what they told me follows below. <br>
<br>
Double-absolutive constructions are indeed not uncommon, and seem to fall
into two categories: Those where certain verbs require this case-frame,
and those where the construction occurs independently of verbal semantics
and expresses a specific grammatical meaning. The latter is the case in
Basque, where it denotes that 'the event is happening in the moment of
speech', and in a number of Daghestanian languages where it is generally
associated with patient demotion or other reduced-transitive contexts.
<br>
<br>
Languages where the double-absolutive construction is conditioned by
verbal semantics include the Malayo-Polynesian language Nias Selatan
(Brown 2001) and certain Tibeto-Burman languages of the Himalayas (Bickel
2001); in both these cases it occurs with a number of Experiencer verbs -
including "like" which takes the double-nominative construction
in Japanese and Korean. There are also some Australian languages which
show double absolutives with "cognate object" verbs of the type
"dance a dance", "speak a language". The Polynesian
language Tongan (Tsunoda 1981) and the Australian language Djaru (Tsunoda
1985) show double absolutives with verbs of possession. <br>
<br>
Finally, a number of people pointed out to me that in split-ergative
languages you will get double-unmarked (nominative-absolutive)
constructions with certain combinations of arguments.<br>
<br>
Thanks again to everyone who replied. The references they provided are
listed below: <br>
<br>
Austin, Peter. 1981. A grammar of Diyari, South Australian. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. <br>
<br>
Brown, Lea. 2001. A Grammar of Nias Selatan. PhD dissertation, University
of Sydney.<br>
<br>
Bickel, Balthasar, 2001. The syntax of experiencers in the Himalayas. In:
<br>
Bhaskararao, Peri [ed.], Working Papers of the International Symposium on
<br>
Non-Nominative Subjects, Tokyo, December 18-21, 2001, pp. 207 37.
Tokyo: <br>
Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa
[also <br>
available at
<a href="http://www.spw.unizh.ch/mitarbeiter/bickel/papers" eudora="autourl"><font color="#0000FF"><u>http://www.spw.unizh.ch/mitarbeiter/bickel/papers</a></u></font>].<br>
<br>
Kazenin, Konstantin. 1998. On patient demotion in Lak. In Kulikov and
Vater (eds.): Typology of verbal categories: Papers presented to Vladimir
Nedjalkov on the occasion of his 70th birthday, pp. 95-116.<br>
<br>
Kibrik, A. E. 1994. Archi. In: Rieks Smeets (ed.) Indigenous Languages of
the Caucasus IV: North East Caucasian Languages II: presenting The Three
Nakh Languages and Six Minor Lezgian Languages, 297-365. Delmar, NY:
Caravan Books.<br>
<br>
Kibrik et al (eds.).1996. Godoberi. München - Newcastle: LINCOM
Europa.<br>
<br>
Polinsky, Maria, and Bernard Comrie. 1999. 'Agreement in Tsez.' Folia
Linguistica <br>
33: 109-130.<br>
<br>
Shibatani, Masayoshi. 2001a. Non-canonical constructions in Japanese. In
Aikhenvald, A., R.M.W.Dixon, and M. Onishi (eds.) <i>Non-Canonical
Marking of Subjects and Objects</i>. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 307-354.
<br>
-<x-tab> </x-tab>2001b. Dative
subject constructions in South Asian languages. In Bhaskararao, P. and
K.V. Subbarao (eds.) <i>The Yearbook of South Asian Languages and
Linguistics. </i>New Delhi:<i> </i>Sage Publications. 311-348.
(Co-author: Prashant Pardeshi).<br>
<br>
Tsunoda, Tasaku. 1981. Split case-marking patterns in verb-types and
tense/aspect/mood. Linguistics Vol.19, Nos.5/6:389-438. The Hague:
Mouton.<br>
-<x-tab> </x-tab>1985. Remarks
on transitivity. Journal of Linguistics, Vol.21, No.2:385-96. <br>
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press<br>
- <x-tab> </x-tab>1988. Antipassives
in Warrungu and other Australian languages. In Masayoshi <br>
Shibatani (ed.), Passive and voice (Typological Studies in Language,
Vol.16), 595- <br>
649. Amsterdam: John Benjamins<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<div>Åshild Næss</div>
<br>
<br>
<div>University of Nijmegen</div>
<div>Erasmusplein 1</div>
<div>6525 GG Nijmegen</div>
<div>THE NETHERLANDS</div>
<br>
<div>+31 24 3616028</div>
<br>
a.naess@let.kun.nl
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