Ergativity from Subjunctive in Austronesian Languages

Abstract

This paper proposes a diachronic analysis of the origin of the unusual alignment found in Formosan and Philippine languages commonly referred to as a ‘focus’ or ‘voice’ system. Specifically, I propose that Proto-Austronesian (PAn) was an accusative language, an alignment which is preserved in modern Rukai dialects, while the non-accusative alignment found in other Austronesian languages resulted first from the reanalysis of irrealis clause types in a daughter of PAn, which I term ‘Proto-Ergative Austronesian’ (PEAn). Modern Rukai dialects belong to the other primary subgroup and do not reflect the innovation. The main theoretical claim of the proposal is that ergative alignment arises from an accusative system when v is unable to structurally license the object in a transitive clause, and the subject does not value case with T. Since the external argument is licensed independently, T is able to probe past it and exceptionally value nominative case on the object. I propose that irrealis v, which is frequen...