[Lingtyp] Alternating argument marking conditioned by word order?

Fri Dec 15 01:39:29 UTC 2023

Hi Ilja,
Many of the Sino-Tibetan languages do not have obligatory grammatical marking of the type we normally think of as alignment, but instead have semantic marking used when needed for disambiguation or emphasis, as when a marked scenario is presented in a clause or the speaker feels there is need to disambiguate between two referents in terms of semantic role. The word order of arguments in most ST languages is determined by information structure, and so it isn’t word order directly, but the information structure that determines the marking. For example, in the Qiang language (LaPolla with Huang 2003), if the actor is the topic, there is no need for agentive marking, as this is the unmarked situation, but if the actor is in focus, then the agentive marker -ku is used to mark this marked scenario. When topical the agent will be in initial position; when focal it will appear just before the verb. There are other factors that influence agentive marking (see Chelliah 2017 for detailed discussion of the factors involved in agentive marking), and also anti-agentive marking (LaPolla 1992, 1994). 

LaPolla, Randy J. 1992. Anti-ergative marking in Tibeto-Burman. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 15.1:1-9.
LaPolla, Randy J. 1994. Parallel grammaticalizations in Tibeto-Burman: Evidence of Sapir’s ‘drift’. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 17.1: 61-80.
LaPolla, Randy J., with Chenglong Huang. 2003. A Grammar of Qiang, with Annotated Texts and Glossary (Mouton Grammar Library 39). Berlin:  Mouton de Gruyter.
Chelliah, Shobhana. 2017. Ergativity in Tibeto-Burman. The Oxford Handbook of Ergativity. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.38

Randy
——
Professor Randy J. LaPolla（罗仁地), PhD FAHA 
Center for Language Sciences
Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences
Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai
A302, Muduo Building, #18 Jinfeng Road, Zhuhai City, Guangdong, China

https://randylapolla.info <https://randylapolla.info/>
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6100-6196    

邮编：519087
广东省珠海市唐家湾镇金凤路18号木铎楼A302
北京师范大学珠海校区
人文和社会科学高等研究院
语言科学研究中心 

> On 15 Dec 2023, at 3:27 AM, Ilja A. Seržant <serzant at uni-potsdam.de> wrote:
> 
> Dear colleagues,
> 
> I am looking for (and collecting) any kind of argument marking alternations (differential marking systems) that are constrained by word order (not necessarily exclusively). I would appreciate any hints to languages that exhibit this kind of differential marking and to the respective research publications.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Ilja Seržant
> 
> -- 
> Prof. Ilja A. Seržant, dr., habil.
> Chair Slavic linguistics, head of the dept
> Department of Slavonic Studies, University of Potsdam
> Am Neuen Palais 10, Haus 01, D-14469 Potsdam
> Tel. + 49 331 977 4152; Room 1.1.2.06
> 
> URL: https://www.uni-potsdam.de/de/slavische-linguistik/team/serzant
> 
> Potsdam Slavic Variation Lab: https://www.uni-potsdam.de/de/slavische-linguistik/slavic-variation-lab
> 
> PoSla Typology Lab: ttps://www.uni-potsdam.de/de/slavische-linguistik/posla-typology-lab
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Lingtyp mailing list
> Lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lingtyp/attachments/20231215/7dfb4fcb/attachment.htm>