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Re: New Language!

From:Doug Dee <amateurlinguist@...>
Date:Tuesday, September 14, 2004, 22:47
In a message dated 9/14/2004 5:45:51 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
chris.maths_student@NTLWORLD.COM writes:

>The main messiness is the lack of marking of proper nouns, which are >sandwiched between accusative systems (so the lack of marking doesn't >occur where the divide does) and also the fact that some 3rd person >pronouns are ergative even though things further down the scale from >them are accusative.
Deviations from the hierarchy are not unheard of. RMW Dixon's book _Australian Languages_ mentions the system in Diyari: (A) An abs/erg system for male personal names and singular common nouns (B) A nom/acc system for nonsingular 1st & 2nd person pronouns (C) A tripartite system for female proper names, nonsingular common nouns, and other pronouns. Doug