Morphological Split Ergative Alignment and Syntactic Nominative-Accusative Alignment in Pesh

Abstract

Pesh (Chibchan, Honduras) has until now been described as having a morphological nominative-accusative alignment. This paper argues that Pesh displays a bilevel split ergative pattern for morphological alignment. On the first level of the system, Pesh features a split alignment that is conditioned by the way the arguments are expressed. It has a nominative-accusative alignment for the obligatory indexing of arguments on the verb and three systems of alignment for flagging case. The distribution of these three systems shapes the second level, where ergative-absolutive, tripartite, and nominative-accusative are seen depending on the types of clause and the varieties spoken. On the other hand, Pesh shows a syntactic nominative-accusative alignment. Cross-clausal behaviors in two constructions show a subject/agent pivot. This is seen in the possibility of deletion of the intransitive subject or the transitive subject in the second conjoined clause and the control of coreference with core arguments in a purpose clause.