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Re: THEORY: Case systems and Ergativity

From:Matt Pearson <jmpearson@...>
Date:Wednesday, December 1, 1999, 15:19
Tom Wier wrote:

>Recently, I've been wondering something about the case >system I've been building for Phaleran, which is a split >ergative system. The question centers around my "diergative" >case, which is the case for the subject of ditransitive verbs, >verbs requiring two objects: what would motivate the >creation of such a case? >So, what do y'all think? Does any of this make any sense?
Well, if you're looking for natlang precedents for your system, I can't think of any. I know of no languages which treat ditransitive and transitive verbs differently with regard to subject case-marking. Matt.