| ROA: | 666 |
| Title: | Promiscuous Paradigms and the Morphologically-Conditioned 'Ergative Split' in Texistepec Popoluca (Zoquean) |
| Authors: | Ehren Reilly |
| Comment: | Proceedings of Berkeley Linguistics Society 30, Special Session on the Morphology of Native American Languages |
| Length: | 12 |
| Abstract: | Under certain conditions, a choice between two morpho-syntactically distinct agreement paradigms is affected by the phonological or morphological environment. I show that such intrusion of the morpho-phonology into the conditioning of morpho-syntactic paradigm alternations is responsible for a typologically unusual sort of 'ergative split' in Texistepec Popoluca (Zoquean). Woolford (1999) draws a distinction among 'ergative' agreement systems between those that are based on syntactic Case and those that are based on morphological alignment, showing how the typology implicit in prior work in OT morphology already predicts such 'morpho-phonologically ergative' languages. I extend this analysis to a complex 'split ergative' agreement system in Texistepec Popoluca (Zoquean), providing historical and cross-linguistic evidence that this unusual pattern should be treated as a morphologically-conditioned paradigm alternation, unrelated to syntactic Case. |
| Type: | Paper/tech report |
| Area/Keywords: | Morphology, Syntax, Historical Linguistics |
| Article: | Version 1
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