Deconstructing ergativity: two types of ergative languages and their features

417 Pages·2016·2.863 MB·English

by  Maria Polinsky

Deconstructing Ergativity
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Edited by Beatriz Fernández and Ricardo Ergative Languages and Their Features
Etxepare Maria Polinsky
Deconstructing
Ergativity
Two Types of Ergative Languages
and Their Features
Maria Polinsky
3
3
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Polinsky, Maria, author.
Title: Deconstructing ergativity : two types of ergative languages
and their features / Maria Polinsky.
Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2016] | Series: Oxford
Studies in Comparative Syntax | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015031701| ISBN 9780190256593 (pbk. : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780190256586 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780190256609 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780190256616 (online content)
Subjects: LCSH: Grammar, Comparative and general—Ergative constructions. |
Generative grammar.
Classification: LCC P291.5 .P65 2016 | DDC 415—dc23 LC
record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015031701
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed by Webcom, Canada
In memory of Lana Borodkin (1903–1 980)

CONTENTS
Preface xiii
Abbreviations xvii
PART I: Two types of ergatives
1. Introduction 3
1.1. Setting the stage 3
1.2. Syntactic ergativity 7
1.2.1. The phenomenon 7
1.2.2. The range of the phenomenon 11
1.2.3. The relevance of syntactic ergativity 13
1.3. The importance of starting small 15
1.3.1. Syntactic ergativity broadly defined 15
1.3.2. Not all A- bar movement phenomena are created equal 20
1.3.3. Some methodological odds and ends 21
Appendix: Compensatory strategies under syntactic ergativity 22
2. Proposal 28
2.1. Crucial empirical observations 29
2.1.1. Diachronic pathways to ergativity 29
2.1.2. Oblique subjects 35
2.2. The proposal: Two classes of ergative languages 35
2.3. From a PP specifier to syntactic ergativity 38
2.3.1. The relationship between the verbal functional head and
ergative P 38
2.3.2. Ergative P and P- stranding 39
2.3.3. Ergative P and pied- piping 40
2.3.4. From a PP subject to syntactic ergativity 44
2.4. Basic clausal structures in the two types of ergative languages 45
2.4.1. PP- ergative and DP- ergative languages: transitive clauses 45
2.4.2. PP- ergative and DP- ergative languages: unergative clauses 49
2.4.3. PP specifiers everywhere? Preventing overgeneration 53
2.4.4. Compatibility between the ergative and the passive 54
2.5. Summary 55
3. Prepositional phrases: Establishing the diagnostics 56
3.1. PPs have distinct extraction and subextraction properties 57
3.2. Restrictions on PPs as pivots of clefts 59
3.3. PPs have resumptive proforms and may have special modifiers 60
3.4. PPs are less accessible to agreement probes than DPs are 60
3.5. PPs and binding 62
3.6. PPs and A-m ovement 65
3.7. PPs cannot be at the tail of a control chain 68
3.8. Summary 70
4. Ergative as a PP: Initial evidence 72
4.1. Ergative expressions can be PPs 72
4.2. Subextraction out of the ergative expression 73
4.3. Extraction: Ergative extraction requires resumption 79
4.4. Ergative and agreement 82
4.5. Ergative and depictives 83
4.6. Ergative and quantifier float 84
4.7. Interim summary 87
4.7.1. Silent P head 87
4.7.2. Overt P head 88
4.7.3. The nature of the operator 90
5. Ergative as a PP: Take two 94
5.1. Binding: Reflexives and reciprocals 94
5.2. Raising 101
5.2.1. No true raising 102
5.2.2. Ergative is not preserved under raising—a t least in Tongan 104
5.3. Control 104
5.4. Summary 109
6. Cross- linguistic landscape: Correlates of PP-e rgativity 111
6.1. Word order correlates 111
6.2. Expletive subjects 117
6.3. Non- canonical (quirky) subjects 120
6.4. Summary 123
7. The other ergative: A true DP 124
7.1. Extraction of the ergative with a gap 125
7.2. Subextraction from the ergative and the absolutive 127
7.3. Agreement 132
7.4. Binding 135
7.5. Control and raising 136
7.6. Word order 138
7.7. By way of summary 139
[ viii ] Contents
8. The relationship between PP- ergativity and DP- ergativity:
Phylogeny and ontogeny 141
8.1. Diachronic relationship between PP-ergativity
and DP-ergativity 141
8.2. Caught in transition: Niuean 144
8.3. Caught in transition: Adyghe 151
8.4. PP- ergatives and DP- ergatives in language acquisition 154
8.5. By Way of Conclusion 158
9. Alternative accounts of variation across ergative languages 160
9.1. Comp- trace versus P- trace 160
9.2. Criterial freezing 163
9.3. Phase boundaries and high-/ low- absolutive languages 166
9.4. Non- syntactic explanations for variation across ergative languages 173
9.5. Summary 180
PART II: Paradigm languages
10. A paradigm PP- ergative language: Tongan 185
10.1. Tongan basics 186
10.1.1. General remarks 186
10.1.2. Predicates 188
10.1.3. Case marking 189
10.1.4. Word order: Preliminary remarks 193
10.1.5. Questions 193
10.2. Subject and possessive marking: Clitics 195
10.2.1. Subject clitics 195
10.2.1.1. Basic facts about clitics 195
10.2.1.2. Accounting for Tongan clitics 198
10.2.1.3. Clitic doubling 202
10.2.2. Possessive clitics and possessive markers 203
10.3. Deriving Tongan clause structure 206
10.3.1. Word order: Deriving V1 206
10.3.2. Word order: The right periphery 207
10.3.2.1. The definitive accent 208
10.3.2.2. VOS is not due to scrambling 211
10.3.2.3. VOS as rightward topicalization 212
10.3.3. Basic clause structures 220
10.3.3.1. Intransitives: Unaccusatives 220
10.3.3.2. Intransitives: Unergatives 225
10.3.3.3. Transitive clauses 229
10.3.4. Tongan ergativity and split ergativity 232
10.4. A- bar movement 234
10.4.1. Relative clauses 234
10.4.2. Wh- questions 239
Contents [ ix ]