(Un)marked subjects and person-number marking in non-finite clauses in Mari

Burukina, Irina (2024) (Un)marked subjects and person-number marking in non-finite clauses in Mari. ACTA LINGUISTICA ACADEMICA, 71 (4). pp. 511-555. ISSN 2559-8201

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Abstract

The present paper examines the distribution of referentially independent genitive and unmarked subjects and subject-oriented person-number inflections in non-finite clauses in Meadow Mari (Uralic), focusing on participles, event nominals, and temporal gerunds. Empirically, the study addresses existing gaps in the description of these phenomena, uncovering more general patterns as well as several microparameters. It also reveals a striking similarity between event nominals and temporal gerunds. Theoretically, the paper contributes to a better understanding of these constructions in the following ways. First, it proposes an analysis of temporal gerunds as event nominals embedded in postpositional phrases. Second, it outlines an approach to licensing overt subjects and inflections in participial clauses and event nominals. Third, building upon Dékány & Georgieva's (2020) work on Udmurt, it explores ways to unify the treatment of event nominals and participial modifiers in Mari, which share morphology; a covert N account is shown to be the most promising one.

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