Ergativity in Srunizu
▲
1▲ 1 ▼ 0
A brief description of the Srunizu's morphology and syntax in regards to ergativity and the construction of the antipassive voice
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 21 Nov 2017, 03:01.
[comments] rhumorphosyntactic alignmentvoice Ergativity
Srunizu is an ergative-absolutive language, meaning the object of transitive verbs, direct object of ditransitive verbs and subject of intransitive verbs are all in the unmarked absolutive case while the subjects of transitive and ditransitive verbs are in the ergative case. The ergative case is marked on the noun with the prefix <e->.
examples:
<ekikwena watsintu swazi>
"a dog chases a ball."
<kikwena kumi>
"a dog comes."
Additionally, by changing the subject of an intransitive verb to the ergative case, one can imply additional agency or volition to the subject.
example:
<ekikwena kumi>
"a dog comes. (because they want to)"
Antipassive Voice
Like most ergative languages, Srunizu has a construction that drops the object of a transitive verb and changes the subject to the absolutive case. This is called the antipassive voice. This construction allows one to speak about who or what did something without specifying an object. Additionally, like with naturally intransitive verbs, if the subject is left in the ergative case, greater volition is conferred on the subject.
examples:
<kikwena swazi>
"a dog chases (something)."
<ekikwena tagki>
"a dog touches (something on purpose)." ✎ Edit Article ✖ Delete Article
Comments
