Journal article
Possessor dissension: Agreement mismatch in Ngumpin-Yapa possessive constructions
R NORDLINGER, F Meakins
Linguistic Typology | Mouton de DeGruyter | Published : 2017
Abstract
In this article we describe a possessive construction in the Ngumpin-Yapa languages of Australia which has interesting implications for crosslinguistic models of agreement. In this "possessor dissension" construction, the possessor NP remains a modifier within the larger possessive NP, yet both the possessor and the possessum are cross-referenced with clause-level agreement morphology. Thus, there is a type of morphosyntactic disagreement (or dissension) between the syntactic position of the possessor as an NP-internal argument and its being agreed with at the clausal level as if it were a clausal argument. This phenomenon has had only limited mention in the typological literature, and has n..
View full abstractRelated Projects (1)
Grants
Funding Acknowledgements
The collection of the Bilinarra data was funded by the University of Melbourne in 1990, Diwurruwurru-jaru Aboriginal Corporation (2000-2007), an AIATSIS grant "Bilinarra Dreaming Lines" (2003-2004), and the Jaminjungan and Eastern Ngumpin DoBeS project (2008-2009). The collection of Gurindji data was funded by the Jaminjungan and Eastern Ngumpin DoBeS project (2008-2009) and a Hans Rausing Endangered Languages ELDP project (2009-2011). Earlier versions of this article were presented at the Australian Languages Workshop in Queensland in March 2013 and the Association for Linguistic Typology conference in Leipzig in August 2013. We thank the audiences of these presentations for many helpful questions and comments, and especially Mary Laughren, David Nash, Irina Nikolaeva, Jane Simpson, Tasaku Tsunoda, and all of those who responded to our post "Verbal agreement with internal NP-modifiers" on the Lingtyp list in August 2014 (see http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lingtyp/). We are also very grateful to Frans Plank, Sandy Ritchie, and three anonymous reviewers for providing useful feedback on a previous draft, which led to substantial improvements. A number of language consultants were instrumental in the collection of the Bilinarra and Gurindji data. We are grateful to Hector Waitbiari Jangari<SUP>dagger</SUP>, Anzac Munganyi Jangari<SUP>dagger</SUP>, Ivy Kulngari Nangari-Nambijina<SUP>dagger</SUP> (Bilinarra), Violet Wadrill Nanaku, Topsy Dodd Ngarnjal Nangari, and Biddy Wavehill Yamawurr Nangala (Gurindji).