Re: Case names in Thagojian

> -------- Original-Nachricht --------
> Datum: Tue, 6 Jun 2006 13:43:38 -0400
> Von: Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...>
> An: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
> Betreff: Case names in Thagojian
> WARNING: PLEASE OVERRIDE THE REPLY-TO SETTING AND REPLY TO THE LIST, NOT
> TO
> ME!
>
> Thagojian is Split-S -- that is, it has a split between Ergative and
> Accusative verbs based on the lexical meaning of the verb (rather than the
> semantics of the situation). For instance "hunt" is always Nominative, and
> "be/make red" is always Ergative.
>
> There are three cases, one used for Sa and A, one used for Sp and P, and
> one used for all O roles (and possession), which are differentiated by
> adpositions. Actually, the situation with adpositions is a tiny bit more
> complicated than that, since verbs of motion may take either a location or
> a target, and (inspired by German) adpos+P marks locations, and adpos+O
> marks targets. That's irrelevant to the main point of the question, but
> possibly worth knowing.
>
> The name for the O case was obvious: Oblique. However, I have been
> struggling for some time to come up with names for the two S cases.
> Nominative and Accusative seemed just as wrong as Ergative and Absolutive.
> I tried mixing names from each pair, to no avail.
>
> I spend some time rolling the meaning of the Erg/Nom split around in my
> brain, and I have come up with Initiator and Undergoer, though I'd prefer
> to find some more "scholarly" names for them. "Ergative" seems like a good
> candidate, etymologically, for the Initiator case, which is sort of a
> shame, but I can accept it. I'm completely lost for names of the Undergoer
> case. Suggestions, please? (Anyone saying "Accusative" will be taken
> outside and shot).
>
> Thanks,
>
> Paul


Hello,


not knowing wether you got the answer already, I would suggest grabbing what you
call Initiator and Undergoer by their semantic roles:
Initiator = Agent
Undergoer = Patient

This also works fine with Wari' BTW, which is the only language I know of that has
non-endocentric phrase structure.

(AFAIK after attending Leipzig Spring School on Linguistic Diversity two months ago)

Though, only on basis of "sheer" syntax, I would be at a loss as well.

Hope I could contribute to the solution,


regards,
Raik




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