Files D & E Flashcards
Grammatical (or Syntactic) Case
Case that carries information about an NP’s grammatical relation (especially a subject or direct object).
Semantic Case
Case that encodes information about thematic roles (e.g., locative, instrument, source, goal, direction, etc.).
Nominative - Accusative
Case that marks the subject of transitive and intransitive as nominative and direct objects as accusative.
Ex: 日本語 and English
Scrambling
Considerable freedom in the ordering of a verb’s arguments due to case.
Ex: ゆみこがそのこどもをしかった。vs そのこどもをゆみこがしかった。
Differential Object Marking (DOM)
Variation in how and whether case is marked on direct objects.
Two key factors are the Animacy Hierarchy and Definiteness Hierarchy.
human>animate>inanimate
personal pronoun>proper name>definite NP>indefinite specific NP >non-specific NP
Ergative - Absolutive
A case system that marks the subject of a transitive clause as ergative and the subject of an intransitive/direct object are marked as absolutive.
Morphologically Ergative
A language that morphologically marks the subject of an intransitive verb and the direct object of a transitive verb in the same way.
Syntactically Ergative
A language is syntactically ergative if it distinguishes the subject of a transitive verb from the subject/object of an intransitive if the contrast is found in phenomena other than inflection.
Split Ergativity
A combination of ergative-absolutive and nominative-accusative case marking.
Agentive Case Marking
The use of case to reflect the unergative-unabsolutive contrast by grouping together NPs bearing the agent role.
Three-way (Tripartite) System
A contrast among an ergative case for subjects of transitive verbs, an accusative case for direct objects, and a nominative (or intransitive) case for subjects of intransitive verbs.
Dative Case
Marks the indirect object, which often corresponds to the goal (or ‘recipient’) with verbs of transfer. Can also be used to mark direction and/or location in languages.
Genitive Case
A case whose principle function is to mark an NP that combines with another nominal category, typically used for marking possessor/possessed relationships.
Partitive Case
A case that is used for direct objects that express a partial or indefinite quantity.
Instrumental Case
A semantic case used to mark objects that are the instrument of the action.
Comitative Case
A semantic case used to mark accompaniment.
Local Cases
A semantic case primarily concerned with expression of location, destination, source, and path.
Examples: Allative - to, towards Illative - into Abalative - from (the exterior of) Elative - out of Superlative - above, to the top of Translative - through Perlative - through, along Inessive - in, inside Adessive - to, at Superessive - above Subessive - under, below
Case Hierarchy
If a language has a case category listed on the hierarchy, it will usually have the case categories associated with each position to the left.
nom>acc>gen>dat>loc>abl/inst>others
abs>erg
Agreement
The system of marking that records a noun’s inherent features (usually person, number, gender, and/or case) on another category, generally a verb, adjective, or determiner.
Concord
Agreement involving adjectives and determiners.
Indexation
Cross-referencing
Other names for verb agreement. This type of agreement is triggered by an NP that bears a grammatical relation to the verb, almost always a subject or object.
Relational hierarchy for agreement
Subject > direct object > indirect object > other
Subject Agreement
A type of verbal agreement that triggers morphological inflection to represent the subject in either number and/or gender.
Pro Drop
Pro drop occurs when subject agreement is present and thus permits the omission of the subject pronoun.
Direct Object Agreement
Agreement where the verb agrees with both the direct object and the subject, in compliance with the relational hierarchy.
Indirect Object Agreement
Agreement where the verb agrees with a true indirect object. Relatively rare form of agreement.
Portmanteau Agreement
Agreement where a single morpheme carries information about more than one agreement relation.
Honorific Agreement
A special type of agreement, found in Korean and 日本語, that is characterized by the use of a special verbal inflection in patterns where the referent of the subject has high social status.
Lateral Feature Passing
A form of verbal agreement where the NP following an expletive subject (i.e. ‘there’) which is neutral for number.
Ex: There is a man at the door. -vs- There are two men at the door.
Switch Reference
A system of grammatical marking that indicates whether the subject of a particular clause is identical to the subject of another, usually adjacent, clause.
Ex: I sang and danced. -vs- I sang and Bonnie danced.
