Omnivorous third person agreement in Algonquian
Abstrak
I argue that third person is not underspecified: there must be a distinct third person feature. I add to the existing body of morphological arguments for this conclusion (Nevins 2007; Trommer 2008, a.o.) a syntactic argument: I show that there is omnivorous third person agreement in Algonquian languages. I focus here on two, Blackfoot (Plains Algonquian) and Plains Cree (Central Algonquian), demonstrating that they have an agreement suffix (the peripheral suffix, analyzed as a probe in C) that indexes the number, animacy, and obviation of the structurally-highest third person argument, skipping over first and second person if it has to. I argue that alternative analyses of this agreement pattern in terms of animacy, obviation, and the categorial feature [D] do not work; thus, third person must be specified even in the syntax (contra Preminger 2019).
Topik & Kata Kunci
Penulis (1)
Peter Grishin
Akses Cepat
- Tahun Terbit
- 2023
- Sumber Database
- DOAJ
- DOI
- 10.16995/glossa.8874
- Akses
- Open Access ✓