Feature GB091: Can the A argument be indexed by a suffix/enclitic on the verb in the simple main clause?

Description

Summary

Is there a phonologically bound A argument index that follows its verbal host (i.e. attaches to it as a suffix or an enclitic)?

Procedure

  1. Consider the section in the grammar that deals with verbal morphology, specifically the subsections on (pronominal) agreement or argument cross-referencing.
  2. Code 1 if there is a phonologically bound element that indexes the A argument on the verb or auxiliary. The index needs to follow the verbal host it is bound to.
  3. If there is some variation in the position of the A index conditioned by the verb (e.g. most verbs code the A argument with a suffix, but a couple use a prefix), consider only the patterns which occur with large classes of verbs.
  4. If the verb shows overt indexing only with some arguments (e.g. only with animate arguments or only with first person singular arguments, the situation known as differential argument indexing), this still counts as 1.
  5. If the A argument is indexed but not by a suffix or enclitic, code 0.
  6. If there is no indexing of the A argument, code 0.
  7. If only a small set of verbs (fewer than a dozen) indexes A arguments, code 0.
  8. Ignore all other ways of indexing arguments (e.g. via a stem alternation, stress or tone), they are not covered by any of the Grambank features.

Examples

English (ISO 639-3: eng, Glottolog: stan1293)

The verb shows overt indexing only with third person singular arguments in present, as in he eat-s vs. we eat. The suffix attaches to all verbs. This is sufficient to code English as 1.

Korowai (ISO 639-3: khe, Glottolog: koro1312)

Independent verb forms express status, subject person-number, mood, and aspect. They are used in independent (final) clauses, subordinate clauses, and chained (medial) clauses. Dependent verb forms do not express subject person and number. Code as 1 (the fact that there are zero morphemes and syncretism of second and third person do no matter). See de Vries & van Enk (1997: 87-90, 183).

The person-number suffixes in the realis are as follows: * 1SG -le/-nde * 1PL -le/-te/-nde * 2/3SG zero/-l * 2/3PL -te(l)

This same set is used with small variations for the other statuses, moods, and aspects. Intentional and imperative mood take an entirely different set of person-number suffixes, distinguishing second from third person in both singular and plural. The zero form (stem-only form) is the usual non-1SG realis form.

nu  maun    mi-p
I   water   drink-1SG.INTEN
‘I want to drink water.’ (van Enk & de Vries 1997: 67)

Cashinahua (ISO 639-3: cbs, Glottolog: cash1254)

There is no person indexing in Cashinahua. The verb indexes only the number of the subject (S/A), agreement in the singular being zero marked. Moreover, there is no indexing on the verb if the subject is the 1PL or 2PL pronoun (Camargo 2007: 1876). Code as 1.

a. kaman-an baka  ʂau  pi-mis-bu.
dog-ERG  fish  bone eat-HAB-PL
‘The dogs eat fish bones.’ (Camargo 2007: 1877)

b. paku-n    nam-ɨ-Ø   pi-mis.
Paku-ERG  meat-OBJ  eat-HAB
‘Paco always eats meat.’ (Camargo 2007: 1873)

c. ɨa, ɨn  daja-mis-ki.
me  I   work-HAB-ASS
‘As for me, I work.’ (Camargo 2007: 1875)

d. nun tsaka-mis-ki.
we hunt-HAB-ASS
‘We always hunt.’ (Montag 2005: 6)

Bukiyip (ISO 639-3: ape, Glottolog: buki1249)

Code as 0 (see Conrad & Wogiga 1991: 25–33).

The verb in Bukiyip indexes S, A, and P arguments. The A argument is always expressed as a prefix.

Monoken  da         wo   ny-ú-klipw-e              ye?
why      therefore  NEG  2SG.SBJ-IRR-tell-1SG.OBJ  NEG
‘Why didn't you tell me?’ (Conrad & Wogiga 1991: 42)

Makasae-Makalero (ISO 639-3: mkz, Glottolog: maka1316)

In Makasae-Makalero most verbs do not index core arguments, as in (a)-(d). A set of five verbs index the number of S and A arguments via suppletive stem allomorphs (Huber 2011: 130). This set is not sufficient for coding as 1: it is a small set of verbs and the respective indexes are not suffixes. Makasae-Makalero is coded as 0.

a. Ani hai  mu’a-li’an. 
1SG NSIT ground-fall
‘I already fell down.’ (Huber 2011: 146)

b. Ani  ei  pase.
1SG  2SG beat
‘I beat you.’ (Huber 2011: 218)

c. Ei  ani pase.
2SG 1SG beat
‘You beat me.’ (Huber 2011: 218)

d. Ina-uai  ni-mata      uaro
mother-HON  REFL-child   wash
‘The mother is washing her child’ (Huber 2011: 391)
(Abbreviations: NSIT new situation)

Further reading

Haspelmath, Martin. 2013. Argument indexing: a conceptual framework for the syntactic status of bound person forms. In Dik Bakker & Martin Haspelmath (eds), Languages across boundaries: Studies in memory of Anna Siewierska, 198–226. Berlin: de Gruyter.

Siewierska, Anna. 2013. Alignment of verbal person marking. In Matthew S. Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds), The world atlas of language structures online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

References

Camargo, Eliane. 2007. Reciprocal, response reciprocal, and distributive constructions in Cashinahua. In Vladimir P. Nedjalkov, Emma Š. Geniušienė & Zlatka Guentchéva (eds), Reciprocal constructions, 1865–1912. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Conrad, Robert J. & Kepas Wogiga. 1991. An outline of Bukiyip grammar. (Pacific Linguistics: Series C, 113.) Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.

de Vries, Lourens & Gerrit J. van Enk. 1997. The Korowai of Irian Jaya: Their language and its cultural context. (Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics, 9.) Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Huber, Juliette. 2011. A grammar of Makalero: A Papuan language of East Timor. Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. (Doctoral dissertation.)

Montag, Richard. 2005. Participant referencing in Cashinahua. SIL Electronic Working Papers (SILEWP 2005-013). SIL International.


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