ergatives and topics

[John Peterson]

Hi Claire,

Although this is probably not what you are looking for, I noticed
something like this in L2 usage while I was working on Santali (North
Munda) a few years back.

Santali is a NOM/ACC-language with no ergativity. However Hindi, the
language I was speaking to the Santali speakers I was working with, has a
split-ergative system: basically NOM/ACC in the non-"perfective" and
ERG/ABS in the "perfective" (with the added complication of differential
object marking, i.e., definite and/or human "objects" are marked by the
so-called "dative/accusative" or "oblique" case).

At any rate, there is a floating enclitic in Santali, =ge, which can be
considered a general focal marker. The sentence the speaker had just
produced in Santali at that time was:

iny=g[e]=iny sen=a 'I (focused) went.'
1SG=FOC=1SG  go=FINITE marker

(the second "iny" is an obligatory, enclitic subject marker, the first
"iny" is not obligatory but is typically used for "emphasis").

The sentence was actually interesting from an entirely different point of
view, so I asked for a translation in Hindi. What the speaker said was the
following:

mai~=ne  ga-y-aa 'I (ERG!!!) went.'
1SG=ERG  go-PFV-M.SG

>From a normative point of view, this usage is "incorrect", as the ergative
is not used in intransitive clauses in Hindi.

As Hindi has an ergative marker with no counterpart in the entirely
non-ergative language Santali, this speaker had simply re-analyzed it as a
general focus marker, which is (at least in his view) lacking in Hindi.
There  is the floating enclitic =to in Hindi, which is usually considered
a topic marker, but nothing which really corresponds to Santali =ge.

I spoke to this man quite some time about using =ne 'ERG' this way, and it
soon became apparent that this was intended as a focal marker. He
repeatedly stated that this emphasized the mai~ '1SG', i.e., "me (and no
one else)".

Like I said, this is probably not what you were interested in, but maybe
it will be of help anyway.

All the best,
John


> Hello everyone,
> I'm collecting examples of ergative case markers being reanalysed as
> topic or focus markers. I know of the Jingulu case as described by Rob
> Pensalfini, but other examples would be useful.
> Thanks,
> Claire Bowern
>
>


-- 
John Peterson
FB 7, Sprachwissenschaft
Universität Osnabrück
Neuer Graben 41
D-49069 Osnabrück
Germany

Telephone: (+49) (0)541-969 4252
Telefax: (+49) (0)541-969 4256
Homepage: http://www.SouthAsiaBibliography.de/


-- 
John Peterson
FB 7, Sprachwissenschaft
Universität Osnabrück
Neuer Graben 41
D-49069 Osnabrück
Germany

Telephone: (+49) (0)541-969 4252
Telefax: (+49) (0)541-969 4256
Homepage: http://www.SouthAsiaBibliography.de/