Transitivity and Case Assignment in Ígálâ

Abstract

Insight on transitivity is derived cross-linguistically in terms of description of formal and functional features in the morphosyntax of token languages. This paper on transitivity and case assignment in Ígálâ describes transitivity in the language from both formal and functional accounts. Structurally, transitive features of a syntactic string are checked off via the ordering of arguments after the verb and features of agreement appear between verbs and their objects to validate the object status of arguments in object position. The functional account of transitivity in Ígálâ shows that some technically intransitive verbs may be rendered transitively in causative constructions, causativization being a valency changing and enhancing process in the language. Morphologically, nominal elements in the language are not lexically distinguished for morphological case. On the basis of this observation, this paper ascribes the transitive feature of object to functional properties of verb as governor of object, to check off the syntactic case of this argument.