Core and peripheral da-ves: da-ve agreement drop in Basque Beatriz Fernández & Jon Or1z de Urbina (UPV/EHU) (UD) Case in and across languages Helsinki, August 27 29, 2009
Introduction and basic facts General problem: Datives as core and/or peripheral arguments (high datives, low datives, etc.) Specific data: dative agreement drop in Northeastern varieties of Basque. Basic facts about Basque: SOV language, but fairly free word order Ergative morphology (case and agreement systems) Obligatory agreement with ergative, absolutive and dative nominals: (ni-k) lagun-ei gozoki-ak ekarri dizkiet/*diet/*die I-E friend-d.pl cookie-a.pl bring (3A).3DAT.1ERG I brought cookies to the friends
Dative agreement drop Dative agreement obligatory in western and Standard varieties, but apparently optional in eastern dialects: Ni-k zu-ri liburua eman dizut /dut I-E you-d book.det give (3A).2DAT.1ERG /(3ABS).1ERG I ve given you the book
Geographical distribution
Dative agreement drop Why is this interesting? First-hand evidence for a hierarchization of dative types with respect to their relative proximity to core and peripheral functions: Postpositional dative adjuncts: never agree Experiencer, ethical, possessive datives: always agree Real optionality?» Goal datives» Aspectual datives» New dative complements» Datives in complex structures ( raising datives, causatives )
Postpositional dative adjuncts Unlike neighboring Romance languages, no homophony between locative and person goals: etxe-ra to the house, home; ALLATIVE etxe-a.ri to the house, DATIVE But in northeastern dialects, perhaps under Romance influence, some (new) datives seem to correspond to (locative) postpositions: Hego ari zagoenak ez duela iphar aldean ongi emanen south DAT was.3abs.comp.erg neg aux.that north side.on well give.fut that the one that was [oriented] to the south will not produce well on the north No agreement (zagoen vs. zagokion)
Postpositional datives An example of experiencer (core) vs. new postpositional (peripheral) datives: dative/postpositional phrase alternation in some psych verbs: a. Experiencer dative / stimulus absolutive Mikel-i gai hori ( inverse configuration) interesatzen zaio Mikel-D topic that (A) interest.impf (3ABS).3DAT That topic interests (is interesting to) Mikel b. Experiencer absolutive /stimulus instrumental Mikel gai horreta-z interesatzen da Mikel (A) topic that.instr interest.imp (3ABS) Mikel is interested in that topic (lit. Mikel interests in that topic ) c. Experiencer absolutive /stimulus dative Aurten, gaita-ri interesatuko da bereziki jaialdia this.year bagpipe-d interest.fut (3ABS) especially festival This year the festival will especially interest (be interested in) bagpipes
Ethical and possessive datives In principle, non-argumental, so more peripheral. In fact, however, they behave like experiencers in this respect ( high datives McFadden 2004, Pylkkänen 2008) Agreement is obligatory: Jenebieba-ri hil zitzaizkon aita eta ama Jenebieba-D die (3ABS).3DAT father and mother (A) To Geneviève, the father and mother died Gallego-ri, emazteak aipatzearekin, arpegia argitu zitzaion Gallego-D women mention-p face(a) lighten (3ABS).3DAT With the mention of women, Gallego s face caught on
Dative complements Complements of different types account for the majority of dative agreement optionality cases: Goals in ditransitive complementation Aspectual datives New dative complements Datives in complex structures
Goal datives No overt dative alternation between postpositional to-like phrases and these datives General assumption: these are DP datives, similar to the first object in a double object construction in English. If so, core arguments; but agreement is optional even in the same speaker: Ez uste baitezpada gorri-eri emango dudala ene botza not think just.in.case reds-d give.fut (3ABS).1ERG my vote Do not think that I will give my vote to the reds just in case. (Larz Idazl II, 227) joka nezazkek ne-ri Aletxandrak emaiten dautala arrazoin bet aux I-D Alex.E give.impf (3ABS)-1DAT.(3ERG) reason I would bet that Aletxandra will agree with me (lit. will give me reason ) (Larz Idazl I,292)
Aspectual datives Several aspectual verbs take dative complements in these dialects (often inesive in other dialects). Most seem to be fairly recent, and perhaps influenced by Romance Bertze solas bati lotu ziren another conversation one.d engage (3ABS) They engaged in another conversation (StPierre 21) Ihesari eman nahi dire, bainan nondik eskapa (Arb Igand 79) escape.d give want (3ABS) but where escape They want to (begin to) flee, but where (could they) escape? Lanari ari zen suharki work-d be.engaged.in (3ABS) intensely He was intensely working (Lafitte 1979: 422)
New dative complements Some á complements in Romance also shifting to dative in these dialects: pentsatu: instrumental dative (penser à) fidatu, trebatu: inesive dative (se fier à, être habile à) Agreement is optional in these cases: Gauza horri ohartu direnak (Dv Lab 80) thing that.d notice (3ABS).COMP.DET.PL Those that have noticed that thing Nola ohart dakioken zakur errabiatuari? how notice (3ABS).3DAT dog rabid.d How can one notice a rabid dog? (HU Gontz 276)
Datives in complex structures Dative phrases with light predicates can correspond to arguments of elements combining with the light verb to form a complex predicate. Passive-like participial clauses: NP [ V ADJ ]-det BE Liburua [Mikel-ek idatzi-]a book Mikel-E written-det is The book is written by Mikel Datives linked to adjectives, adverbs, etc.: zuri begira egon be looking [lit. to the eye ] at you ; zuri goxo izan be sweet to you What happens if the embedded constituent contains an argument marked dative? Dative agreement optionality also found in western dialects in some of these structures da
Datives in complex structures Passives with and without agreement: Jaunari sainduetsiak zaikozkoelakotz. (Dv Num 18, 17) God.D blessed.det be.3abs.3dat.because because they are blessed to God Egun hau gure Jainko Jaunari sainduetsia da. (Dv Neh 8, 9) day this our God Lord.D blessed.det (3ABS) This day is blessed to God A different dative agreement optionality pattern? Complex predicate formation (CPF) may be optional: in both western and eastern dialects, lack of dative agreement may result from lack of CPF If CPF takes place, northeastern dialects may still choose not to show dative agreement: these datives are complements
Conclusion Dative agreement is optional only with dative complements ( low datives) Experiencers, ethical and possessive datives ( high datives) display obligatory agreement Some (new) datives correspond to postpositional adjuncts and can t agree. We can use this phenomenon as a testing ground for dative typologies and agreement theories.
Acknowlegments This work has been partially funded by the University of the Basque Country (EHU 06/20); by the Basque Government ( HM-2009-1- 25); by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (FFI2008-00240/FILO); by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-07-CORP-033).