The Evolution of Ergativity in Iranian Languages
|
| Title | The Evolution of Ergativity in Iranian Languages |
| Authors | |
| Abstract | This paper presents an attempt to investigate the origins of ergativity in Iranian languages, drawing upon diachronic and synchronic analyses. In so doing, I will trace the development of the ergative structure back to Old and Middle Persian where, it is argued, the roots of ergativity lie. I will specifically show that the ergative pattern as currently obtained in the grammatical structure of some Iranian languages has evolved from a periphrastic past participle construction, the analogue of which is attested in Old Persian. It will further be argued that the predecessor past participle construction imparted a resultative construal in Old Persian and, subsequently, in the transition to Middle Persian, has assumed a simple past reading. The bottom-line of the analysis will be represented as a proposal regarding the nature of the ergative verb, to the effect that an ergative verb, as opposed to a regular (non-ergative) transitive verb, is semantically transitive, but syntactically intransitive.-----Članek poskuša z diahrono in sinhrono analizo prikazati izvor ergativnosti v iranskih jezikih. Avtor sledi razvoju ergativne strukture vse od stare in srednje perzijščine, kamor naj bi segale korenine ergativnosti, in pokaže, da se je ergativni vzorec, ki je prisoten v slovničnih strukturah nekaterih iranskih jezikov, razvil iz perifrastičnega preteklega deležnika, katerega vzporednice so najdene v stari perzijščini. Avtor trdi, da je predhodni pretekli deležnik vodil do nastanka rezultativov v stari perzijščini in je posledično ob prehodu v srednjo perzijščino privedel do enostavnega preteklika. V zadnjem delu analize avtor predstavi naravo ergativnih glagolov in predlaga, da so ergativni glagoli, v nasprotju z običajnimi (ne-ergativnimi) prehodnimi glagoli, semantično prehodni, a skladenjsko neprehodni. |
| Publisher | Faculty of Arts |
| Date | 2012-05-22 |
| Source | Acta Linguistica Asiatica Vol 2, No 1 (2012) |
| Rights | Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) |