Identifying Grammatical Relations Flashcards
What are the three strategies for indicating grammatical relationships?
constituent order
case marking
agreement marking
they are not mutually exclusive, most langauges use a combo
What are grammatical relationships?
the relationship between the core arguments and the verb
Explain constituent order
Some languages have a fixed CO, with different orders being associated with distinct pragmatic/semantic interpretations
Name a language that uses constituent order
English - subject+object are in fixed positions
What are the major constituents of a transitive clause?
S, V, O
6 possible iterations of them
What are the most common constituent orders?
SOV/SVO form 80% of languages
What are the most common positions for each constituent?
90% of languages put V next to O
96% put S before O
even if subjects are not clause initial, they initiate the action expressed by the verb
Explain how constituent order can vary within a language
In some languages, certain orders are associated with certain clause types
German: SOV=embedded clauses, SVO=root clauses
Explain case marking
When certain morphology is used to mark the relationship between the verb and nominal arguments
It allows for variation in the position of arguments
What is the difference between case marking and agreement marking?
Marking on NP=case marking
on verb = agreement marking
What are the two main ways languages differentiate between core arguments?
Generally A and O are differentiated
Either S+A are marked with a nom morpheme whilst O is marked with an accusative morpheme
or S+O are marked with an absolutive morpheme and A is marked with an ergative morpheme
Are all participants marked in case marking languages?
It is common for one member of each to be marked (have no special case inflection)
What is agreement marking?
The relationship between the argument and the predicate is marked through verbal agreement
What is verbal agreement?
When the head verb is marked to reflect grammatical properties of the NP argument
How does verbal agreement vary acrosslanguages?
In some languages V only agrees with S in others (Swahili), V agrees with more than one argument
How does constituent order affect agreement marking?
CO can affect which marker is used
- in Northern Sotho, usually, the subject is marked when the standard CO is followed
- when changed, subject is still marked but so is Obj
Why does constituent order affect agreement marking?
When there is only on NP preceding the verb, so there is no ambiguity about what is doing the action
When there are two NPs the clarification is needed
What are the 5 properties of an object?
O can be passivised
They have a specific position in langs with a fixed CO
In nom/acc languages, obj are marked with acc morphemes
In accusative systems, Objects are the complement of a
two-argument (transitive) verb.
If a verb agrees with two args, one must be obj
What are the 6 properties of a subject?
tend to appear first in a clause
often used to express the agent of a verb
understood to be the missing argument of imperatives
often the target in passives
often control referential properties of a NP in another clause(understood subj of embedded clauses)
control reflexive NPs (“self” forms)
