unusual (?) passive/possessive

[Paul Hopper]

Jess,

It looks like the -m- isn't a passive but some kind of applicative, and
the subject NP got there by "possessor ascension" (you could google this
to find other examples). In a wider sense ethical datives etc. might
belong here.

Paul




On Sun, June 28, 2009 3:57 pm, jess tauber wrote:
> Another long hot day...
>
>
> In Yahgan there is a construction I find a bit unusual, but my lack of
> experience with other languages makes me a bit hesitant here, so I'm
> wondering if list-lurkers can help.
>
> Ex.   hame:amana:nude: shuganiki:pa < ha-m-yamana:n-ude: = 1st
> sbj-pass/refl-live/survive/recover-past;  shugani-ki:pa ?-female/woman =
> daughter 'My daughter is getting better'.
>
> This type of construction works for all three bound person pronoun
> prefixes.
>
> Ex.   kvme:ipvnude: bix <  kv-m-yipvn-ude:  =  3rd
> sbj-pass/refl-catch-past;  bix bird 'His bird was caught/someone hit is
> bird'.
>
> Possession of the nominal is unexpressed in these sentences, where
> normally it would have another possessing nominal preceding it, and in
> other constructions one can have the expressed possessor.
>
> Here the possessed NP seems always to follow the verb, and is zero-marked
> for case. With the expressed possessor neither of these conditions seem
> to be true.
>
> Is this sort of thing normal for some kinds of languages? Thanks.
>
>
> Jess Tauber
> phonosemantics at earthlink.net
>
>
>
>
>
>


-- 
Prof. Dr. Paul J. Hopper
Senior Fellow
Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Albertstr. 19
D-79104 Freiburg
and
Paul Mellon Distinguished Professor of Humanities
Department of English
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213