The Inverse Agreement Constraint in Uralic languages

É. Kiss, Katalin (2013) The Inverse Agreement Constraint in Uralic languages. FINNO-UGRIC LANGAUGES AND LINGUISTICS, 2 (1). pp. 2-21. ISSN 2063-8825

Preview

Text EPA02403_finno_ugric_lang_2013_01_02-21.pdf Download (252kB) | Preview

Abstract

The paper aims to answer the question why object–verb agreement is blocked in Hungarian, Tundra Nenets, Selkup, and Nganasan if the object is a first or second person pronoun. Based on Dalrymple & Nikolaeva (2011), it is argued that object–verb agreement serves (or served historically) to mark the secondary topic status of the object. The gaps in object-verb agreement can be derived from the Inverse Agreement Constraint, a formal, semantically unmotivated constraint observed by Comrie (1980) in Chukchee, Koryak and Kamchadal, forbidding object-verb agreement if the object is more ʻanimate’ than the subject: The paper claims that the Inverse Agreement Constraint is a constraint on information structure. What it requires is that a secondary topic be less topical than the primary topic. An object more topical than the primary topic can only figure as a focus. A version of the constraint can also explain why Hungarian first and second person objects have no accusative suffix, and why accusative marking is optional in the case of objects having a first or second person possessor.

Actions (login required)

Edit Item