Re: Chevraqis: a sketch

Yoon Ha Lee wrote:

> Marcus Smith:
> > This sounds close to an "active" language.  Active language almost always
> > indicate this distinction by verbal agreement rather than case on the noun
> > though.  (I don't say always, because although I've never heard of active case
> > marking, I don't see why it couldn't happen.)  It's always nice to see more
> > conlangs follow this pattern.  There aren't enough of us around.
> A word for what it is!  I'll look up the natlang equivalents.  :-/  I got
> the idea from a Ranto on Esperanto whose URl/author I can't recall offhand.
You should definitely check out Marianne Mithun's article 'Active/Agentive
Case Marking and its Motivations' in Language 67(3), 1991. It's really
excellent. Some languages to look into are e.g. Guaraní, Lakhota, Eastern
and Central Pomo, Mohawk, Acehenese, Georgian, Ts'ova-Tush and Chickasaw,
which are all active to various degrees.

Daniel