Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/52612

KEYWORDS : コリャーク語;形態的能格性;統語的能格性;動詞の一致;節連接

This paper examines the degree of ergativity in Koryak from morphological and syntactic viewpoints, with a special focus on verb agreement and syntactic operations such as coordination and relativization in clause linkage. As far as noun phrase case-marking is concerned, Koryak is known to be a consistent ergative-absolutive language. Meanwhile, as far as verb agreement and syntax are concerned, it occupies an intermediate position between consistent accusative and consistent ergative. That is, verb agreement follows an accusative principle on the first and third person (singular, dual, and plural) as well as the second person (only singular). Coordination treats S and O in the same way, while relativization treats S and A in the same way. Although a tentative report is presented here with a few examples of infinitive constructions and subordination, further research is needed to judge correctly whether their syntactic behaviors follow an accusative or ergative principle.