April 10, 2014

Syntax/Semantics Project (April 11)

There will be syntax-semantics project this Friday, April 11th, from 11-12:30 in SS560A. Will Oxford will be giving a preview of his upcoming CLA talk, "The rise and fall of split-ergative agreement in Algonquian"


Abstract: The Algonquian verb displays what can be described as a split-ergative 3rd-person agreement pattern in some languages (e.g. Ojibwe, Passamaquoddy) but not others (e.g. Cree, Meskwaki). A further set of languages (e.g. Delaware, Massachusett) has a double system consisting of both Ojibwe-type forms and Cree-type forms. This presentation will describe and analyze the 3rd-person agreement pattern in each type of system and consider how the three systems are diachronically related.

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