Universität zu Köln

Riesberg, Sonja ORCID: 0000-0002-0252-0910 (2018). Optional ergative, agentivity and discourse prominence - evidence from Yali (Trans-New Guinea). Linguistic Typology, 22 (1). pp. 17-50. ISSN 1613415X

Abstract

A phenomenon often termed "optional ergative marking" is found in a number of genetically unrelated languages. Yali, a Trans-New Guinea language spoken in West Papua, shows striking similarities to optional ergative systems as described in the literature. This paper focuses on the relation between agentivity and discourse prominence, and argues in favour of a systematic distinction between semantic and syntactic contexts as conditioning factors for optional ergative marking. It further provides new evidence for the close interplay of ergative marking and what has been termed "discourse prominence" in descriptions of some other languages and shows that in Yali, optional ergative marking operates on both the global and the local level of discourse.

Item Type:	Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Riesberg, Sonja UNSPECIFIED https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0252-0910 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-625663
Identification Number:	10.1515/lingty-2018-0002
Journal or Publication Title:	Linguistic Typology
Volume:	22
Number:	1
Page Range:	pp. 17-50
Date:	2018
ISSN:	1613415X
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Fächergruppe 1: Kunstgeschichte, Musikwissenschaft, Medienkultur und Theater, Linguistik, IDH > Institut für Linguistik > Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft
Subjects:	Language, Linguistics
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language 1. Phase,2018,B05,CRC 1252,Projektwebsite,Prominence in Language,SFB 1252,Trans-New Guinea,University of Cologne,Universit\"t zu K\"ln,Yali,agentivity,optional ergative marking,prominence UNSPECIFIED
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/62566