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In:Typological Hierarchies in Synchrony and Diachrony
Edited by Sonia Cristofaro and Fernando Zúñiga
[Typological Studies in Language 121] 2018
► pp. 217–256

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Chapter 6
From ergative case-marking to hierarchical agreement

A reconstruction of the argument-marking system of Reyesano (Takanan, Bolivia)

 | Laboratoire Dynamique du Language (CNRS & Université Lyon 2)
Published online: 26 July 2018
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https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.121.06gui
Abstract
This paper reconstructs the history of a set of innovated 1st and 2nd person verbal prefixes in Reyesano which manifest the phenomenon of ‘hierarchical agreement’ in transitive clauses, according to a 2>1>3 hierarchy. I argue that these prefixes come from independent ergative-absolutive pronouns which first became case-neutral enclitics in 2nd position in main clauses and then verb prefixes. And I show that the hierarchical effects that the prefixes manifest in synchrony have nothing to do with the working of a hierarchy during the grammaticalization process. In doing so, the paper contributes to the growing body of diachronic evidence against the idea that the person hierarchy is a universal of human language reflecting a more general principal of human cognition.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Reyesano argument-marking system
    • 2.1Marking of nominal and pronominal NPs
    • 2.2Verbal agreement
      • 2.2.13rd person agreement
      • 2.2.2SAP agreement
  • 3. Araona, Cavineña, Ese Ejja and Tacana argument-marking systems
    • 3.1Ergative marking of nominal and pronominal NPs
    • 3.2Verbal agreement
  • 4.Reconstructing the history of the Reyesano argument-marking system
    • 4.1Loss of ergative case marking
    • 4.2Rise of person prefixes
      • 4.2.1Innovation rather than retention
      • 4.2.2From independent pronouns to agreement prefixes
  • 5.The genesis of hierarchical effect
    • 5.1Hierarchical pattern SAP>3
    • 5.2Hierarchical pattern 2>1
  • 6.Summary and conclusions
  • Acknowledgments
  • Appendix
  • Notes
  • References
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