Eskimo Influence on the Formation of the Chukotkan Ergative Clause
It has generally been assumed in the literature on ergativity that the phenomenon of ergative clause structure in Chukotkan languages represents a family-internal development reflecting the common source of such constructions in earlier passives. On closer inspection it appears that Chukotkan ergati...
| Published in: | Studies in Language |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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John Benjamins Publishing Company
1997
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/sl.21.2.05for http://www.jbe-platform.com/deliver/fulltext/sl.21.2.05for.pdf |
| Summary: | It has generally been assumed in the literature on ergativity that the phenomenon of ergative clause structure in Chukotkan languages represents a family-internal development reflecting the common source of such constructions in earlier passives. On closer inspection it appears that Chukotkan ergativity is of a typologically quite aberrant kind, however, whose most likely source is to be found in influence from neighbouring Eskimo. Prior to that, all Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages had already developed complex transitive verbal paradigms of a non-ergative type. |
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