Re: Case names in Thagojian

On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 13:43:38 -0400, Paul Bennett <paul-
bennett@...> wrote:

>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
>=========================================================================
Agent(ive) and Patient(ive).
Why don't you like Nominative and Absolutive?

Jeff