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Split Intransitivity and Saweru

Split Intransitivity and Saweru Mark Donohue university of sydney The phenomenon of split intransitivity is discussed in a variety of languages, emphasizing the contrast between two-way and three-way split intransitivity. The agreement system of Saweru, a Papuan language of West Papua, is examined, and there follows a discussion of where Saweru ²ts into a typology of split intransitivity. 1. INTRANSITIVITY SPLITS AND ALIGNMENT. The simple, yet effective, diagnostic of alignment (whether morphological or syntactic) in a language relies on the examination of the treatment afforded to the single argument of an intransitive verb, and a comparison of this with the treatment of the arguments of primary transitive verbs. Using the labels A, S, and O to represent the syntactic roles found in these clauses (Heath 1975, Dixon 1979, 1994--the labels are de²ned as per Andrews 1985:68, with S corresponding to an intransitive predicate's sole argument, and A and O representing, respectively, the most and least agentive arguments in a transitive verb's subcategorization frame), we can plot the more common variations in treatment according to groupings of these arguments, and the labels that are used to describe them, as shown in ²gure 1. When we are discussing morphological alignment, the morphology that encodes http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Oceanic Linguistics University of Hawai'I Press

Split Intransitivity and Saweru

Donohue, Mark
Oceanic Linguistics , Volume 40 (2) – Jan 12, 2001
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University of Hawai'I Press
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Copyright © 2001 University of Hawai'i Press.
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1527-9421
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Abstract

Mark Donohue university of sydney The phenomenon of split intransitivity is discussed in a variety of languages, emphasizing the contrast between two-way and three-way split intransitivity. The agreement system of Saweru, a Papuan language of West Papua, is examined, and there follows a discussion of where Saweru ²ts into a typology of split intransitivity. 1. INTRANSITIVITY SPLITS AND ALIGNMENT. The simple, yet effective, diagnostic of alignment (whether morphological or syntactic) in a language relies on the examination of the treatment afforded to the single argument of an intransitive verb, and a comparison of this with the treatment of the arguments of primary transitive verbs. Using the labels A, S, and O to represent the syntactic roles found in these clauses (Heath 1975, Dixon 1979, 1994--the labels are de²ned as per Andrews 1985:68, with S corresponding to an intransitive predicate's sole argument, and A and O representing, respectively, the most and least agentive arguments in a transitive verb's subcategorization frame), we can plot the more common variations in treatment according to groupings of these arguments, and the labels that are used to describe them, as shown in ²gure 1. When we are discussing morphological alignment, the morphology that encodes

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Oceanic Linguistics – University of Hawai'I Press

Published: Jan 12, 2001

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