Re: Lisanek
| From: | Matthew Pearson <matthew.pearson@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, October 23, 2001, 0:20 |
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--- You wrote:
Ergative's used for object of prepositions? Though I think it makes sense (I've
heard of a universal that says that unmarked cases are never used with
prepositions, hence nominative-accusative languages never use nominative with
prepositions - Esperanto being an exception, but since it's an artificial
language it doesn't count -), I don't know if it's usual. Anybody knows of an
ergative language with prepositions which could be an example?
--- end of quote ---
Since ergative case is also used to mark the possessor, I could see using it for the
'objects' of adpositions if the adpositions were somehow noun-like. Many
languages have things like "the house's interior" for "inside the house".
Of course, if adpositions patterned with nouns in Lisanek, and their 'objects'
with possessors, I would expect them to precede the noun and trigger construct
state marking on the preposition: "house interior-CONS".
Matt.
Matt Pearson
Department of Linguistics
Reed College
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd
Portland, OR 97202 USA
ph: 503-771-1112 (x 7618)