(^488) MICHAEL SILVERSTEIN
Djirbal Plain vs. Normal Inflectional Schemata:
NP types (S or A → ) plain case-markings normal case-markings
erg nom abs erg nom/abs dat
I. 1/2→ 3 A ()
II. 3 → 3 A ()
III. 2/1→ 1/2 A
IV. 3→ 1/2 A
V. 1/2 S S
VI. 3 S S
Table 1
might see the accusative and the dative as formally complementary but
functionally equivalent forms for expressing transitive Patient in the first
and second persons, precisely those persons which are below the split for
marking Patienthood, that is, have a distinct Patient form. In other words,
the accusative case-marking in the plain inflection is a special Patient-mark
ing form in the plain but not normal inflections for those noun phrase types
above the Patient hierarchy split. The ergative case-marking in the plain
inflection is a special Agent-marking form in the plain but not normal
inflections for those noun phrase types below the Agent hierarchy split.
Other than in the case of the avoidance of double-dative constructions in
the normal form usage of the ergative case-marking, this case-marking is a
highly specialised one. Similarly, the accusative case-marking is a highly
specialised one. The nominative/absolutive and the dative, however, are
the very same case-forms where they appear in both plain and normal
inflection, the nominative/absolutive as the basic zero form, and the dative
as indirect object (i.e., lexical dative) in the plain inflection, and direct
object (i.e., grammatical dative) in the normal inflection.
The centrality of the nominative/absolutive : dative schema comes out
in the various types of discourse mechanisms in Djirbal. In terms of the sys
tem of reference maintenance in clause linkage, Djirbal treats almost all
sequitur sequences of clauses as linked, that is, where there is some overt
mark of the linkage into a coherent discourse centering around some
"topic," some introduced referent the existence, uniqueness, and identifia
bility of which is then increasingly presupposed, hence not marked. This is
summarized in Table 2. At the looser levels of discourse structure, toward
the bottom of the linkage hierarchy, Djirbal has a global reference-mainte
nance system, in the form of a switch-reference mechanism with simple
singke
(singke)
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