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Volume 3, Issue 4 (2009) Pp. 1–23.
- Innovative Double Subject Marking in Nɬeʔkepmxcin (Thompson)
- by Karsten Koch
Nɬeʔkepmxcin closely approximates the proto-Salish pattern of
transitive sbject marking via person agreement sffix and expletive (3d person) clitic (Davis
1999, 2000). In Central Salish, however, transitive subjects tend to be marked with a
clitic, and subject suffixes are eliminated. This paper sheds light on how this historical
shift from Proto-Salish may have begun by presenting new synchronic evidence from
Nɬeʔkepmxcin. In conjunctive transitive clauses, expletive clitics
are sometimes reanalyzed as subject agreement markers, like in the Central Salish
languages. In this innovative Nɬeʔkepmxcin pattern, transitive subjects
are thus doubly marked, once as a clitic, and once as a suffix. The characteristics
of this innovation may reveal or confirm what synchronic processes drive
historical change.
key words: Salish, subject agreement, person, number, speech errors, morphology
Article [PDF file] (404 KB)
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