Topic and Discourse Structure in West Greenlandic Agreement Constructions by Anna Mary ...

503 Pages·2014·20.31 MB·English

UC Berkeley
Dissertations, Department of Linguistics
Title
Topic and Discourse Structure in West Greenlandic Agreement Constructions
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Author
Berge, Anna
Publication Date
1997
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Topic and Discourse Structure in West Greenlandic Agreement Constructions
by
Anna Mary Sophia Berge
B.A. (University of Wisconsin at Madison) 1988
M.A. (University of California at Berkeley) 1991
M.L.I.S. (University of California at Berkeley) 1992
A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in
Linguistics
in the
GRADUATE DIVISION
of the
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA at BERKELEY
Committee in charge:
Professor Richard Rhodes, Co-Chair
Professor Gary Holland, Co-Chair
Professor Leanne Hinton
Professor Thomas Shannon
Spring 1997
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Topic and Discourse Structure in West Greenlandic Agreement Constructions
Copyright (1997)
by
Anna Mary Sophia Berge
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The dissertation of Anna Mary Sophia Berge is approved:
Co-Chair Date
8. h ______________________*1117h i
Co-Chair Date
'Ikby
Date
Date
University of California at Berkeley
Spring 1997
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Dedication
To those who are gone:
Chester and Jane Rose Holstein
Belle B. Rifkin
Martha and Trygve Obert Berge
and to my parents:
Jon Peter Berge
Louise Robertson
and to Sweet Pea and Romi
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IV
Table of Contents
Table of Contents........................................................................................................................iv
Acknowledgments......................................................................................................................vii
Orthographic Conventions:........................................................................................................ix
Notes on Data Transcription.....................................................................................................jci
Abbreviations............................................................................................................................xiv
1. Introduction...............................................................................................................................I
1.1 Background issues affecting the decision to study discourse in West
Greenlandic.......................................................................................................................I
1.2 The Inuit Language in Syntactic Theory...............................................................3
1.2.1 Introduction...............................................................................................3
1.2.2 Grammatical and Theoretical Descriptive Approaches.....................3
13 Approaches to Discourse.........................................................................................15
1.4 A Theoretical Approach to Discourse Structure in West Greenlandic.............25
2 Background Information On Greenlandic...........................................................................30
2.1 Historical Affiliations............................................................................................30
2.2 Phonology..............................................................................................................33
23 Morphophonology...................................................................................................38
2.4 Morphology..............................................................................................................41
2.4.1 Inflection—Nominal.................................................................................42
2.4.2 Inflection—Verbal.....................................................................................45
2.43 Derivation................................................................................................47
2.4.4 Enclitics....................................................................................................53
23 Syntax......................................................................................................................34
2.5.1 Functions of the Nominal Cases...........................................................54
23.2 Functions of the Verb Moods................................................................57
2.53 Function of Ergativity............................................................................61
23.4 Sentence Constructions..........................................................................62
3. Topic (and Theme) as Discourse Roles...............................................................................65
3.1 Problems In Working with Discourse..................................................................65
3.2 Issues in the Definition of Topic and Theme......................................................67
3.2.1 Nominal vs. Predicate Classes.............................................................67
3.2.2 Topic.........................................................................................................68
3.23 Theme......................................................................................................79
33 The Introduction and Identification of Topics and Themes...............................89
3.4 Discourse Roles and Syntactic Description......................................................102
3.4 The Greater Applicability of Discourse Roles..................................................108
4. Ergativity as a Reflection of Topic Status.........................................................................114
4.1 A description of ergativity and ergative characteristics in West
Greenlandic...................................................................................................................114
4.2 The treatment of ergativity in modem syntactic theories of
Greenlandic...................................................................................................................122
43 Subjecthood, Agency, Topic................................................................................127
4.4 The role of topic in the use and distribution of ergative and accusative
structures in West Greenlandic...................................................................................137
43 Data........................................................................................................................141
43.1 Gear Examples of Topichood and Transitivity..............................141
4.5.2 Reflection Gauses................................................................................147
4.53 Temporal Adverbs...............................................................................149
43.4 Sections with more than one topic or theme in interaction............152
4.5.5 Antipassive Structures.........................................................................160
4.6 Problems................................................................................................................165
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V
4.7 Evaluation.............................................................................................................168
5. Switch-Reference or Thematic Coherence and Topic Continuity?...............................171
5.1 Switch-Reference in West Greenlandic...........................................................171
5.1.1 nominal possessive inflection............................................................172
5.1.2. subordinate mood pronominal inflection.......................................172
5.13. contemporative vs. participial..........................................................173
5.2 Theoretical Considerations/Generalizations..................................................175
5.2.1. Switch-Reference..............................................................................175
5.2.2 Thematic Coherence...........................................................................181
5.23 The Contemporative and the Participial in Studies of
Discourse.........................................................................................................184
5.2.4 The Role of topic in the use and distribution of switch-
reference marking in West Greenlandic......................................................185
53 Data Analysis of Subordinate Pronominal Inflections..................................186
5.4.1 Quantitative Analysis.........................................................................194
5.4.2 General Findings and Observations.................................................196
5.43 An Alternative Explanation for the Distribution of the
Contemporative and the Participial.............................................................197
5.4.4 Clause Order........................................................................................205
5.4.5 The Contemporative...........................................................................209
5.43.1 Some Issues in the Determination of Same vs. Different
Subject............................................................................................................209
5.43.1.1 Structural Ambiguities...................................................209
5.43.1.2 Inclusion, or Overlapping Subject................................210
5.43.13 Problems of Clausal Hierarchy Interpretation.............211
5.43.2 Environments of Different Subject Occurrences........................213
5.43.2.1 Possession.........................................................................214
5.43.2.2 Ellipsis..............................................................................215
5.43.23 Reflection Comments.....................................................216
5.43.2.4 Incorporated Particles....................................................217
5.43.23 General, Unspecified, and Dummy Subjects..............218
5.43.2.6 Simultaneous time...........................................................221
5.43.2.7 Subject-Object Coreference..........................................223
5.4.6 Participials...........................................................................................223
5.4.6.1 Some Issues in the Determination of Same vs. Different
Subject.............................................................................................................224
5.4.6.1.1 Structural Ambiguities—Nominalizations....................224
5.4.6.1.2 Overlapping Subject........................................................225
5.4.6.13 Clause Structure and Hierarchy.....................................227
5.4.6.2 Environment of Same Subject Occurrences.................................227
5.4.6.2.1 Subject Coreference At All Levels................................227
5.4.6.2.2 The Participial and the Passive......................................230
5.4.6.23 Subject-Object Coreference...........................................231
5.4.7 Problems with the Proposed Interpretation of the Verb
Moods..............................................................................................................231
53 Evaluation.............................................................................................................238
6. Conclusion...........................................................................................................................240
6.1 Findings with respect to West Greenlandic......................................................240
6.2 Some Comments on the Potential Role of Discourse in Linguistic
Descriptions.................................................................................................................244
Appendix I—Typological Characteristics of West Greenlandic.........................................251
Appendix II—Historical Discussion of Verb Moods...........................................................253
Appendix III.............................................................................................................................260
Speaker 1, Text la.......................................................................................................260
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VI
Speaker l,Text lb........................................................................................................294
Speaker 2, Text 2.........................................................................................................327
Speaker 3, Text 3a.......................................................................................................364
Speaker 3, Text 3b.......................................................................................................397
Speaker 4, Text 4..........................................................................................................415
Appendix IV—supplementary charts of CT/P distribution..................................................446
Appendix V—Particles, Temporal Adverbs, and Supplementary Information..................463
Bibliography...............................................................................................................................477
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Acknowledgments
This project would not have been possible without the support and encouragement
of my friends and colleagues. First, I would like to thank the members of my committee,
Drs. Rich Rhodes, Gary Holland, Leanne Hinton, and Tom Shannon, who have guided
and encouraged me, read the copious and verbose pages of my drafts, and believed in the
quality of my work. The sometimes frustrating and never-ending work was made more
pleasant by the good relations I have always had with each of my advisors.
None of my data and very little of my already scant knowledge of Greenlandic
would have existed without the help and the good wishes of all of the people I have met
while conducting fieldwork. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Kerti Jeremiassen and
Bodil Davidsen, who helped me find speakers to tape, transcribed and translated the texts
for me, welcomed me as a friend in their home and community; and to Per Langgard,
who so generously gave of his time to teach me the fundamentals of West Greenlandic
and to review the morphological analyses of my texts. Per Langgard and his family,
Anna-Maija and Ilona, understanding the loneliness of the fieldworker, accepted my
company and made me feel welcome. In addition, Karen Langgard and the staff of the
University of Greenland, Karen Nielsen and Sakki, Rasmine Johansen and her family
Ole, Angut, and OIov, S0rine Petersen and her friends Lene Holm and Else Danielsen,
Inge Hansen, and Paula Bekooy have all welcomed me, helped me, and extended their
friendship to me, and I wish them to know how much I have appreciated them.
My work in West Greenland must properly be said to have started when I first
began working in the Arctic. I first began my studies in Iqaluit, Baffin Island, with the
help of Susan Sammons, the Arctic College, Mick Mallon, Louis-Jacques Dorais,
Shuvenai Mike, May Lonsdale, Debbie Qitsualik, Ashoona Kiliback, Sailua Attagujuk,
and Sami Qaumariaq. It was there that I first was introduced to the culture and language
of the Inuit Arctic, and that I first developed a love and respect of the Arctic; it was in
Greenland that I deepened it.
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It was the support at home, however, that kept me from floundering during the
writing of my dissertation, and I thank my good friends Trina Baker, Tom Lynch, the
Felds, the Gibermans and the Goldenbergs, the Mumfords, the members of my
congregation, and my woodcarving group for their friendship, their distractions, and their
patience.
Above all, great thanks to my family from whom I learned the art of critical
thinking, for their support and good wishes, even as they raised their eyebrows; to Sweet
Pea and Romi, who have suffered my bouts of ill-temper and neglect with stoicism and
faith; and to Joseph, with whose love I was able to finish.
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