Files D & E

Question 1

Grammatical (or Syntactic) Case

Answer 1

Case that carries information about an NP’s grammatical relation (especially a subject or direct object).

Question 2

Semantic Case

Answer 2

Case that encodes information about thematic roles (e.g., locative, instrument, source, goal, direction, etc.).

Question 3

Nominative - Accusative

Answer 3

Case that marks the subject of transitive and intransitive as nominative and direct objects as accusative.

Ex: 日本語 and English

Question 4

Scrambling

Answer 4

Considerable freedom in the ordering of a verb’s arguments due to case.

Ex: ゆみこがそのこどもをしかった。vs そのこどもをゆみこがしかった。

Question 5

Differential Object Marking (DOM)

Answer 5

Variation in how and whether case is marked on direct objects.
Two key factors are the Animacy Hierarchy and Definiteness Hierarchy.

human>animate>inanimate
personal pronoun>proper name>definite NP>indefinite specific NP >non-specific NP

Question 6

Ergative - Absolutive

Answer 6

A case system that marks the subject of a transitive clause as ergative and the subject of an intransitive/direct object are marked as absolutive.

Question 7

Morphologically Ergative

Answer 7

A language that morphologically marks the subject of an intransitive verb and the direct object of a transitive verb in the same way.

Question 8

Syntactically Ergative

Answer 8

A language is syntactically ergative if it distinguishes the subject of a transitive verb from the subject/object of an intransitive if the contrast is found in phenomena other than inflection.

Question 9

Split Ergativity

Answer 9

A combination of ergative-absolutive and nominative-accusative case marking.

Question 10

Agentive Case Marking

Answer 10

The use of case to reflect the unergative-unabsolutive contrast by grouping together NPs bearing the agent role.

Question 11

Three-way (Tripartite) System

Answer 11

A contrast among an ergative case for subjects of transitive verbs, an accusative case for direct objects, and a nominative (or intransitive) case for subjects of intransitive verbs.

Question 12

Dative Case

Answer 12

Marks the indirect object, which often corresponds to the goal (or ‘recipient’) with verbs of transfer. Can also be used to mark direction and/or location in languages.

Question 13

Genitive Case

Answer 13

A case whose principle function is to mark an NP that combines with another nominal category, typically used for marking possessor/possessed relationships.

Question 14

Partitive Case

Answer 14

A case that is used for direct objects that express a partial or indefinite quantity.

Question 15

Instrumental Case

Answer 15

A semantic case used to mark objects that are the instrument of the action.

Question 16

Comitative Case

Answer 16

A semantic case used to mark accompaniment.

Question 17

Local Cases

Answer 17

A semantic case primarily concerned with expression of location, destination, source, and path.

Examples: 
Allative - to, towards
Illative - into
Abalative - from (the exterior of)
Elative - out of
Superlative - above, to the top of
Translative - through
Perlative - through, along
Inessive - in, inside
Adessive - to, at
Superessive - above
Subessive - under, below

Question 18

Case Hierarchy

Answer 18

If a language has a case category listed on the hierarchy, it will usually have the case categories associated with each position to the left.

nom>acc>gen>dat>loc>abl/inst>others
abs>erg

Question 19

Agreement

Answer 19

The system of marking that records a noun’s inherent features (usually person, number, gender, and/or case) on another category, generally a verb, adjective, or determiner.

Question 20

Concord

Answer 20

Agreement involving adjectives and determiners.

Question 21

Indexation

Cross-referencing

Answer 21

Other names for verb agreement. This type of agreement is triggered by an NP that bears a grammatical relation to the verb, almost always a subject or object.

Question 22

Relational hierarchy for agreement

Answer 22

Subject > direct object > indirect object > other

Question 23

Subject Agreement

Answer 23

A type of verbal agreement that triggers morphological inflection to represent the subject in either number and/or gender.

Question 24

Pro Drop

Answer 24

Pro drop occurs when subject agreement is present and thus permits the omission of the subject pronoun.

Question 25

Direct Object Agreement

Answer 25

Agreement where the verb agrees with both the direct object and the subject, in compliance with the relational hierarchy.

Question 26

Indirect Object Agreement

Answer 26

Agreement where the verb agrees with a true indirect object. Relatively rare form of agreement.

Question 27

Portmanteau Agreement

Answer 27

Agreement where a single morpheme carries information about more than one agreement relation.

Question 28

Honorific Agreement

Answer 28

A special type of agreement, found in Korean and 日本語, that is characterized by the use of a special verbal inflection in patterns where the referent of the subject has high social status.

Question 29

Lateral Feature Passing

Answer 29

A form of verbal agreement where the NP following an expletive subject (i.e. 'there') which is neutral for number. Ex: There is a man at the door. -vs- There are two men at the door.

Question 30

Switch Reference

Answer 30

A system of grammatical marking that indicates whether the subject of a particular clause is identical to the subject of another, usually adjacent, clause. Ex: I sang and danced. -vs- I sang and Bonnie danced.