Re: Switch Systems and Relative Animacy

>>>> Chris Bates<chris.maths_student@...> 01/19/05 7:20 AM >>>
>There are some languages which mark on the verb whether the subject is
>higher in animacy than the object, or vice versa. And there are some
>that mark whether the subject of a clause is the same as the preceding
>clause (similar to 4th person marking). I was thinking of combining the
>two and having this as a 3 way system for disambiguating:
>
>the verb can take 3 markers. They are:
>
>same subject as last clause
>different subject from last clause, subj higher in animacy than object
>different subject from last clause, subj lower in animacy than object
I haven't worked out the details of the obviative yet (preceeding clause
references) in emíndahken, but it also involves an animacy hierarcy (see
below). So far I have decided that basic sentence order is SOV (or APV
if you will) with the understanding that the A is higher than P. So normal
order is not marked. If P happens to be higher, then there is a verbal
affix /aK/ to indicate that. The twist is that the NP showing the higher
animacy must *always* come first :). I still have a lot of work on the
verbs to do, since it will incorporate subject and object (and ditransitive)
markers, as well as a healthy supply of mode markers. (Native American
languages rule!) :)

>I've eliminated the animacy distinction when the subject is the same as
>the last clause, because in such a case distinguishing between S and O
>is less of a problem. What do you think? It seems to me to be concise
>and good for the purposes of disambiguation. icon_smile.gif
>
>BTW, the animacy tree that languages typically use is:
>
>1st > 2nd > 3rd > proper nouns > people > animals > plants > inanimate
>objects
See http://www.potawatomilang.org/Reference/Grammar/Morphology/Inflection/verbinflintro.html
for an unclear example of this. In the text, the author states that 2nd person is
higher, but the chart shows 1st person as highest. For emindahken, I liked the
idea that 2nd is higher, so that is what I'm using there. The FULL hierarchy (not
that all of this would ever appear in a single utterance :) ):

divine > 2nd > 1st > 3rd > obviative > mammals > birds > fish > insects/other >
celestial objeccts > plants >other earth-based (wind, rivers, fire) > liquids (natural) >
solids (natural) > man-made objects > abstract concepts

The níímíndah ('people of the mountain') are very nature-oriented, with a
healty respect for its powers and diversity. They also have strong beliefs about
the spiritual realm.

James W.

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