Case Marking System Research Articles

Case-Marking System in Saptariya Tharu: A Typological Perspective

This paper explores the system of case marking in the Saptariya Tharu spoken in various districts of Nepal. Saptariya Tharu is identified as a nominative and accusative language, and studies are conducted to explore its case markers and postpositions. The paper discusses nominative case, accusative-dative case, locative case, genitive case, ablative case, instrumental case, and comitative case and highlights their use and examples. In addition, the paper compares the Sapataria Tharu case marking system with other Indo-Aryan languages spoken in Nepal's Terai region. It points out that most languages in this region also have nomenclature-accusation patterns. Furthermore, this article notes the similarities between these languages, emphasizing the absence of ergative case markers and the differences between instrumental, genitive, dative, and locative markers. The research concludes that it reveals a rich case-marking system of Saptariya Tharu in a broader context of the Indo-Aryan languages spoken in Nepal's terai region, highlighting its unique linguistic characteristics and typological similarities with neighboring languages.

A diachronic study determining syntactic and semantic features of Urdu-English neural machine translation

Machine translation produces marginal accuracy rates for low-resource languages, but its deep learning model expects to yield improved accuracy with time. This longitudinal study investigates how Google Translate's Urdu-to-English translated output has evolved between 2018 and 2021. Accuracy and acceptability of the translations have been determined by, a) an interlinear gloss that identifies core semantic units and grammatical functions to be translated and, b) a descriptive comparison of the translated text's syntactic and semantic properties with those of the source text. Overall, despite a 50 % error rate that persists over the three-year interval, the research reports significant improvement in the overall intelligibility of the translations, in contrast to initial results from 2018, which exhibited rampant non-localized errors. Working backwards from instances of errors to morphosyntactic and semantic patterns underlying them, the study concludes that the pro-drop feature of Urdu, Urdu's case-marking system, identification of clause boundaries, polysemous terms, and orthographically similar words pose the greatest difficulty in neural machine translation. These results point to the need for incorporating syntactic information in training data.

Case Marking in Tharu: A Comparative Perspective

This paper compares the case marking system in Kathariya and Dangaura Tharu spoken by an ethnic group called Tharu. Both of these varieties typologically follow the nominative-accusative marking system. These varieties have different markers to code different cases. Only the Genitive marker -kə or -k are shared by both of these varieties. The dative-accusative markers -kehən, or -ke, instrumental marker -ləike, and ablative marker- ti are used in Kathariya Tharu. Dangaura Tharu is unique in its use of compound case marking in Genitive case. The locative marker in Kathariya Tharu is -me but it is -mə in Dangaura Tharu. The experiencer subjects in both of these varieties are dative case marked.

Referential Density of Old/Middle/Present-day English

This paper attempts to introduce the referential density of Old English (OE), Middle English and Present-Day English (PDE), to see whether the RD values of different versions of English can tell the diachronic changes in English. RD is to display the correlations between the arguments and the predicate in a clause, RD1 (overt arguments over possible arguments) has been high from OE to PDE despite their up and down ratios. In contrast to the vagueness of RD1, RD2 (overt arguments over the predicate) shows a steady increase in their values from OE to PDE. This increasing pattern in overt arguments(RD2) shows similarity in the English valency study of the increase of transitive verbs from OE to ME. This paper argues that these RD value results can be an explanatory tool to prove the change of English valency as well as the relationship between the loss of the case-marking system and the more frequent occurrence of arguments from OE to PDE.

Adpositions In Lutuv

This paper investigates the adpositional marking and case marking systems in Lutuv. This investigation finds that the basic adpositional phrase consists of a noun and a simplex or complex postposition. Complex postpositions are often used to convey information about both movement and location, whereas simplex postpositions are usually limited to expressing one of the two. The findings of this investigation are useful for highlighting potential future areas of research in Lutuv.

The asymmetrical categories of negation in Bumthang

Author(s): Peck, Naomi; Wyatt, Thomas; Donohue, Mark | Abstract: Less inflectional categories are found in negated clauses than are found in affirmative clauses in Bumthang, a Tibeto-Burman language of Bhutan. It is common cross-linguistically for languages to make fewer contrasts in negative clauses than in affirmative ones. In this paper we focus on the less expected appearance of the ergative case in certain negated irrealis clauses, where the use of this case would be ungrammatical in the corresponding affirmative clauses. We sketch the aspectual and case-marking systems of the language, and then present data exemplifying the interaction of case, aspect and polarity, including the use of the ergative with arguments of monovalent verbs in negated irrealis clauses. We conclude by offering an account for the behaviour observed in terms of the pragmatics of implicature.

The acquisition of German declension in additive and concept-based approaches to instruction via computer-based cognitive tutors

AbstractThis study examines the different learning outcomes of two computer-based cognitive tutors using two approaches to instructing German declension: an additive, bottom-up approach, which focuses on a stepwise introduction of each case, and a concept-based, top-down approach, which focuses on developing students’ conceptual understanding of the functions related to each case form and the case marking system as a whole. The results indicate that both groups learned, but what and how they learned differed depending on the method of instruction. The additive group showed general gains in production and a slight increase in their ability to correctly interpret object-first sentences. The concept-based group showed larger gains, but in fewer areas. Specifically, the production of adjective endings increased, although there were no differences in determiner production or accuracy. The concept-based group also had a larger gain in their ability to interpret non-SVO word order sentences. This study shows how concept-based approaches to grammar can outperform additive ones, and that the development of these concepts can prepare students for future learning.

Roots of Ergativity in Africa (and Beyond)

In the literature, it is often assumed that ergative constructions originate in passive constructions. The present contribution explores the likelihood of such a passive-to-ergative analysis for one language (Tima, Niger-Congo, Sudan), showing that this analysis cannot be substantiated and suggesting an origin in active constructions instead. This study is situated in its areal context (outlining similarities to split case marking systems across the region, especially in the Southern branch of Eastern Sudanic) and against the background of discussions in the Indo-Iranian family (from where the passive-to-ergative hypothesis presumably spread).

Case Marking in Hindi as the Weaker Language.

Does language dominance modulate knowledge of case marking in Hindi-speaking bilinguals? Hindi is a split ergative language with a rich morphological case system. Subjects of transitive perfective predicates are marked with ergative case (-ne). Human specific direct objects, indirect objects, and dative subjects are marked with the particle -ko. We compared knowledge of case marking in Hindi–English bilinguals with different dominance patterns: 23 balanced bilinguals and two groups of bilinguals with Hindi as their weaker language: 24 L2 learners of Hindi with age of acquisition (AoA) of Hindi in adulthood and 26 Hindi heritage speakers with AoA of Hindi since birth in oral production and acceptability judgments. The balanced bilinguals outperformed the English-dominant bilinguals; the L2 learners and the heritage speakers, who showed similar lower command of the Hindi case marking system, with the exception of -ko marking as a function of specificity with direct objects. We consider how dominant language transfer, AoA of Hindi, and input factors may explain the acquisition and knowledge of morphology in Hindi as the weaker language.

A Special Case Marking System in the Sinitic Languages of Northwest China

A Special Case Marking System in the Sinitic Languages of Northwest China

A Special Case Marking System in the Sinitic Languages of Northwest China

A Special Case Marking System in the Sinitic Languages of Northwest China

Verb types and semantic maps

Verb classifications for sign languages are typically based on agreement properties (Padden 1988) and have also been suggested to be semantically grounded (Meir 1998, 2002). In light of the latter proposition, it is surprising that the semantics of verb types have not been explored in much depth. This study aims to investigate the semantic underpinnings of verb types. It is hypothesized that the semantic properties that govern case-frame selection in spoken languages (Hopper and Thompson 1980; Tsunoda 1981) similarly mediate verb type in sign languages. The rationale behind this idea is that many such properties have the potential to be expressed iconically in sign language verb forms. Particular constellations of features are thus expected to increase the likelihood of a verb to be of a certain type. To test this hypothesis, a method previously used to investigate the connection between verb semantics and transitivity in spoken languages (Malchukov 2005) is applied to data from German Sign Language (DGS). Overall, the results lend credibility to the supposition that case marking systems in spoken languages and the verb-type system in sign languages are sensitive to the same underlying semantic factors, underscoring the centrality of these notions in language. In addition, the results offer a finer-grained picture of the semantics of verbs of different types, and enable us to formulate predictions about the scope of diachronic change and synchronic and cross-linguistic variation in this domain.

Case marketing in Nubri

This paper introduces the case marking system in Nubri, using data from both Samagaun and Prok villages. Nubri, a Tibetic language, has ergative and dative morphological cases, but appears to have a dispreference for using morphological case where possible. This paper explores this issue, comparing the variations between the two dialects.

Some Sociolinguistic and Morphosyntactic Features in Dumi

Dumi is a less described Kirati language of the Rai group. The word order phenomenon in this language is of SOV pattern. This language exhibits a consistently ergative-absolutive case marking system. Including the glottal stop, there are 26 consonants and seven phonemic vowels in Dumi. The maximum syllable structure is (C1) (C2) (G) V (X), where G is a glide and ‘X’ is a consonant or a vowel. Dumi children are compelled to read and write in Nepali or English. However, the Dumi language will survive if the Dumi people continue to speak, read and write in their mother tongue.

Case marking uniformity in developmental pronoun errors

The purpose of this study was to determine if children acquire grammatical case as a unified system or in a piecemeal fashion. In English language acquisition, many children make developmental errors in marking case on subject position pronouns (e.g., Me do it, Him like it). It is unknown whether children who produce pronoun case errors with first person pronouns also produce errors with third person pronouns. This finding would be expected if case were acquired uniformly across person through building a paradigm for an abstract case feature. Spontaneous pronoun case errors were collected from language samples of 43 typically developing toddlers at 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, and 36 months of age. A chi-square test was used to determine whether children were more likely to make both first and third person errors, indicating an association. The uniformity of the case marking system was further investigated by asking whether pronoun case errors in first and third person occurred at the same time using a Wilcoxon signed-ranks test. Most children treated case uniformly across person, producing both first and third person pronoun case errors or producing no case errors at all, resulting in a significant association. Additionally, errors were not significantly different in timing. The results of this investigation are compatible with the notion that children systematically extend case marking in a unified paradigm. Pronoun case is not acquired separately for each grammatical person in a piecemeal fashion.

Awareness and learning under incidental learning conditions

ABSTRACTRecent years have witnessed a strong and increasing interest in the incidental learning of second language grammar. While much of this research has focused on the acquisition of second language word order or noun-determiner systems, relatively fewer studies have examined the learning of second language morphology. Results of studies that have examined the incidental learning of case-marking systems in particular have indicated that participants developed some, but not very much, knowledge of the target case-markers and, further, that the resulting knowledge from this exposure was partly implicit and partly explicit in nature. The present experiment set out to build upon the previous research in this area with the aim of taking a finer-grained look at the subjective measures used to assess implicit and explicit knowledge.In the present experiment, participants were trained on a semi-artificial language system under incidental learning conditions. Learning was measured via a grammaticality judgement test and awareness was assessed via subjective measures of awareness and retrospective verbal reports. The results corroborated the finding of low levels of learning reported in previous research. However, in contrast to the previous findings, the finer-grained analyses of subjective measures of awareness indicated that this knowledge was fully explicit in nature. These results point towards limitations of criteria for identifying implicit knowledge as part of subjective measures of awareness.

Some preliminary observations about Baṅgāṇī pronominal and nominal declension

Baṅgāṇī, an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the so-called Baṅgāṇ area, a land enclosed by the Pabar and the Tons rivers (Uttarkāśī district, Uttarākhaṇḍ state), shows in its grammar and lexicon some peculiar features still rather controversial. The debate is still in course, due to the lack of enough documentation available, as the majority of scholars complains about. Moreover Baṅgāṇī, among the Western Pahāṛī languages of New Indo-Ayan, is now esteemed as a critically endangered language by the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger. The paper presents the preliminary results of a fieldwork research with Baṅgāṇī mother-tongue speakers and the unique elicited text available. In particular a description of Baṅgāṇī pronominal and nominal declension, focusing on the case marking and agreement system of the Subject-like and Object-like arguments of intransitive and transitive clauses (in perfective and non-perfective tenses), is offered. The comparison between the data that I collected enabled me to offer a good amount of Baṅgāṇī sentences exemplifying the function of the different forms, and thus to understand their use in depth, that is to shed light on the peculiarities of Baṅgāṇī case marking system.

How the accusative became the relative

AbstractThe Eskimo-Uralic hypothesis of a genetic link between Eskimo-Aleut and the Uralic languages is now reaching its second centenary. Two major problems with its advancement sinceBergsland’s (1959)summary of its status are addressed in this article. The first of these is the lack of an obvious correlate of the ubiquitous Eskimo-Aleut (EA) relative case marker -min Uralic; the other is the lack of anm-initial first person singular morpheme in EA to correlate with that of the Uralic languages. That the EA singular genitive/relative marker -m— as well as the instrumental/accusative singular -məkbased on it — might be cognate with Uralic singular accusative -mwas suggested already bySauvageot (1953), but no firm conclusion on the matter has since been reached. This has remained a tantalizing possibility, despite the conflicting semantics. However, the remarkable morphosyntactic parallels between Eskimo-Aleut and Samoyedic in particular have grown more apparent with recent publications. A solution is proposed, linking the emergence of ergativity in the Eskimo-Aleut family with a reanalysis of the original nominative-accusative case marking system.

The neurophysiology of language processing shapes the evolution of grammar: evidence from case marking.

Do principles of language processing in the brain affect the way grammar evolves over time or is language change just a matter of socio-historical contingency? While the balance of evidence has been ambiguous and controversial, we identify here a neurophysiological constraint on the processing of language that has a systematic effect on the evolution of how noun phrases are marked by case (i.e. by such contrasts as between the English base form she and the object form her). In neurophysiological experiments across diverse languages we found that during processing, participants initially interpret the first base-form noun phrase they hear (e.g. she…) as an agent (which would fit a continuation like … greeted him), even when the sentence later requires the interpretation of a patient role (as in … was greeted). We show that this processing principle is also operative in Hindi, a language where initial base-form noun phrases most commonly denote patients because many agents receive a special case marker ("ergative") and are often left out in discourse. This finding suggests that the principle is species-wide and independent of the structural affordances of specific languages. As such, the principle favors the development and maintenance of case-marking systems that equate base-form cases with agents rather than with patients. We confirm this evolutionary bias by statistical analyses of phylogenetic signals in over 600 languages worldwide, controlling for confounding effects from language contact. Our findings suggest that at least one core property of grammar systematically adapts in its evolution to the neurophysiological conditions of the brain, independently of socio-historical factors. This opens up new avenues for understanding how specific properties of grammar have developed in tight interaction with the biological evolution of our species.

Differential Case in Yalaku

Yalaku, a previously undescribed Ndu language from the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea, has two core cases (nominative and accusative) and four oblique clausal cases (locative-instrumental, allative, dative, and specific locative). The comitative case is used for marking an oblique within a clause, or as a marker of linkage within a noun phrase. In addition to Differential Object Marking, the choice of every core case and most oblique cases has pragmatic overtones. A further additional case-marking system is used if a core argument or an oblique argument is in focus (termed Highlighted Participant case). This principle, similar to that of differential object and subject marking in other languages, extends to the expression of possessor in possessive constructions. The coexistence of two independent systems of Differential Case Marking (based on different parameters) makes Yalaku typologically unusual. The appendix shows how language contact between Yalaku and the neighboring (and unrelated) Kwoma may have played a role in the development of Highlighted Participant case in Yalaku.