Re: THEORY: Verb-Medial Languages, Case-Marking and Agreement

On Aug 27, 2007, at 3:05 PM, Eldin Raigmore wrote:

> Verb-initial languages tend to have polypersonal agreement; that
> is, the verb
> agrees with both the subject and (at least one, maybe more of) the
> object(s).
>
> Verb-final languages tend to have rich case systems; that is, the
> subject
> noun-phrase is case-marked as subject and the object noun-phrase(s)
> is(are)
> case-marked as object (and/or indirect object etc.).
>
> The explanation for this is that languages like to establish the
> roles as early in
> the phrase as possible.
>
> But, if that were so, wouldn't SVO languages case-mark the subject
> and have
> the verb agree with the object? But mostly they don't; rather, they
> tend to
> have the verb agree with the subject (if anything), and to case-
> mark only the
> object (if either grammatical relation).
Does this have anything to do with ergativity vs. accusativity?

>
> Am I wrong? If I'm right, why do SVO languages usually case-mark
> the object
> but not the subject, and also usually have the verbs agree with the
> subject
> but not the object, instead of the other way 'round?
Very interesting questions (to which I haven't the slight idea of an
answer). They remind me of a question that I've been wondering about
for a while -- do any natlangs have verbs that agree only with
objects? Or that, if intransitive, agree with their subjects, but if
transitive, agree with their objects?

>
> 1% of the world's languages are OVS; if the "establish roles as
> early as
> possible" idea is correct, the object (rather than the subject)
> should be case-
> marked and the verb should agree with the subject (rather than with
> the
> object). Is that what happens in those languages?
Hixkaryana (OVS), according to Wikipedia, has either object or
subject agreement on verbs, depending on whether the object outranks
the subject on the hierarchy. (I guess that answers my question about
agreement with objects but not subjects, but I amend my question to
"do any natlangs have verbs that only agree with objects and *never*
with subjects?".) It doesn't appear, judging from the WP page, that
it marks case on nouns.