Propping up predicates: Adjectival predication in Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì
In Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì (Dene, aka Athapaskan), copulas appear obligatorily with adjectives predicated of animate subjects, but are barred from appearing with adjectives predicated of inanimates. I propose that this asymmetry arises from a requirement to realize grammatical agreement for person, and that...
| Published in: | Glossa: a journal of general linguistics |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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Open Library of Humanities
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.7 https://doaj.org/article/887cf16aad394fa6b9833c15cceaf362 |
| Summary: | In Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì (Dene, aka Athapaskan), copulas appear obligatorily with adjectives predicated of animate subjects, but are barred from appearing with adjectives predicated of inanimates. I propose that this asymmetry arises from a requirement to realize grammatical agreement for person, and that animate nouns alone bear a person feature. Unlike verbs, adjectives in this language cannot inflect; hence copulas are inserted in adjectival predicates as a rescue strategy to avoid ungrammaticality. |
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