Minimalist Analysis of Ergativity
Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: This paper proposes a Minimalist analysis of the case and [EPP] features on T and v which accounts for the basic morphosyntactic properties of syntactic ergativity. I show first that absolutives should not be analyzed as subjects and accordingly propose that their case-licensing features be distributed between T and v. The hallmark characteristics of syntactic ergativity, which are the absolutive restriction on A'- extraction and the antipassive construction, are accounted for by limiting [EPP] features to transitive (and not intransitive or antipassive) v. Generally speaking, I show that while both case and [EPP] features are obligatorily checked by T in accusative languages, the role of in feature-checking is much more prominent in ergative languages. In descriptive terms, it can be said that accusative languages have a clear notion of grammatical subject, while in ergative languages absolutives have properties of both subjects and objects.
DOI: 10.69341/2021137
Author: Edith Aldridge
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1524664236