Abstract
The chapter deals with patterns of case marking and agreement in Mehweb. Based on morphosyntactic coding and binding, the system of five valency classes is described for Mehweb. The chapter covers basic monoclausal structures with verbs of the five valency classes as well as their interaction with several specific constructions, such as reciprocal, causative, and bi-absolutive.
Highlights
This Working Paper is an output of a research project implemented within NRU HSE’s Annual Thematic Plan for Basic and Applied Research
Depending on the number of core arguments and their morphosyntactic behavior with respect to coding properties, the Mehweb verbal lexicon is divided into the following valency classes: (1) Mehweb valency classes a
With causatives of intransitive verbs, the bi-absolutive construction works the same way as with biabsolutives of ordinary transitive verbs: both the causer and the causee are in the absolutive case; the former controls gender and person agreement on the copula, while the latter controls gender agreement on the lexical verb
Summary
Mehweb is a morphologically ergative language where the sole argument (S) of intransitive verb is grouped together with the direct object (P) of transitive verb with regard to morphological case marking, but separately from the subject (A) of transitive verb: S and P arguments are in the unmarked absolutive case, while A arguments bear the ergative case morphology. The ergative-marked argument is structurally the most prominent, as evidenced by its ability to bind a reflexive pronoun in any other position in the clause, including the absolutive argument, (7a-8a). While absolutive generally must be present in a clause with a locative or dative subject verb, it may be absent in case the corresponding semantic argument is expressed by another constituent. (35) arʁes ‘hear’ with finite complement ʡali-ze arʁ-ib abaj iz-uwe le-r ile. Ali-INTER hear:PF-AOR mother(ABS) be sick:IPF-CONV COP-F COMP ‘Ali heard that mother was sick.’. Mehweb features five verb classes depending on the case of the structurally highest argument: (i) intransitive verbs with absolutive subject, (ii) transitive verbs with ergative subject, (iii) locative subject verbs with inter-lative subject, and (iv) dative subject verbs with dative subject, and (v) one inter-elative subject verb buhes ‘manage, be able’.
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