Re: THEORY: Ergativity and polypersonalism
| From: | Philip Newton <philip.newton@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, January 19, 2005, 6:54 |
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On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 23:37:53 +0200, Isaac Penzev <isaacp@...> wrote:
> If the lang has ergativity, it usually has a
> polypersonal verb, that is a verb form explicitly denotes person and number
> of both subject and object. I found this in Basque, Georgian, Koryak and
> Chukchi. Is it as much universal, or you can show me examples of natlangs
> that have ergativity without a polypersonal verb?
Niuean, a Polynesian language, has a grammar that some call ergative,
yet it typically uses no verb inflections at all (though some verbs
change form depending on number -- I can't remember offhand whether
they agree with the agent, patient, either, or both).
Case is marked on the arguments of the verb with particles.
Cheers,
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>
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