2. BERBER CASE vs. ARABIC CASE
Berber:
Shilh
iuɣa
urgaz
aɣiul
he.bought
the.man.DEP
the.donkey.ABS
=NOM
Classical
Arabic
’ištarā
r-‐rajulu
l-‐ħumāra
he.bought
the-‐man.NOM
the-‐donkey.ACC
VSO
3. BERBER CASE vs. ARABIC CASE
Berber:
Shilh
argaz
iuɣa
aɣiul
the.man.ABS
he.bought
the.donkey.ABS
Classical
Arabic
’ar-‐rajulu
štarā
l-‐ħumāra
the.man.NOM
he.bought
the-‐donkey.ACC
SVO
4. BERBER CASE vs. ARABIC CASE
Berber:
Shilh
argaz
iuɣa
aɣiul
the.man.ABS
he.bought
the.donkey.ABS
Classical
Arabic
’ar-‐rajulu
štarā
l-‐ħumāra
the.man.NOM
he.bought
the-‐donkey.ACC
’inna
r-‐rajula
štarā
l-‐ħumāra
PCL
the.man.ACC
he.bought
the-‐donkey.ACC
SVO
5. BERBER CASE vs. ARABIC CASE
Berber:
Shilh
aɣiul
iuɣa‑t
urgaz
the.donkey.ABS
he.bought‑it
the.man.DEP
=NOM
Classical
Arabic
’al-‐ħumāru
štarā-‐hu
r-‐rajulu
the-‐donkey.NOM
he.bought‑it
the-‐man.NOM
O V+ S
6. BERBER CASE vs. ARABIC CASE
Berber:
Shilh
aɣiul
iuɣa‑t
urgaz
the.donkey.ABS
he.bought‑it
the.man.DEP
=NOM
Classical
Arabic
’al-‐ħumāru
štarā-‐hu
r-‐rajulu
the-‐donkey.NOM
he.bought‑it
the-‐man.NOM
’inna
l-‐ħumāra
štarā-‐hu
r-‐rajulu
PCL
the-‐donkey.ACC
he.bought‑it
the-‐man.NOM
O V+ S
7. Typical morpheme: a Berber: m. a-, f. ta- Cushitic: *-a
Functions in Berber, after Sasse (1984) :
The absolutive rather than nominative (subject) case is
• the citation form of the noun,
• the predicative form of the noun in a verbless sentence;
• The absolutive is also used for the vocative, measure constructions, and
with adverbial case markers;
it also occurs when case is neutralized as a consequence of
• group inflection or
• focus marking. Gensler (2000) adds that the absolutive is used for the
• fronted topic and emphatic noun in situ position.
Mous typology p. 25
8. BANTI 1988: 14, on Oromo:
The absolutive
is the unmarked case, and is used for
• non-subjects, for
• focussed NPs, for
• citation, and generally when the other case marks do not apply.
(G. Banti, Two Cushitic Systems: Somali and Oromo Nouns. In: van
den Hulst & Smith, eds. 1988. Autosegmental Studies on Pitch Accent.
Dordrecht: Foris Publications. 11–49.)
BANTI 2003: 21, on Saho:
The
absolutive
is
the
unmarked
case,
used
for
the
•
direct
object
of
a
verb,
as
•
citation
form,
and
when
a
noun
is
used
as
a
•
predicate
followed
by
the
copula
kinni
'to
be'
or
by
a
verb
like
ekke
'to
be,
to
become,
to
happen',
etc.,
e.g.,
xiyawto
uble
'I
saw
a
man',
yemeete
tii
xiyawto
kinni
'the
one
who
came
is
a
man'.
(BANTI,
in
VERGARI
&
VERGARI
Saho
Dictionary
21
§
2.3.)
9. SAHO
Nominative vs. absolutive
xiyawt.i
okolo
yuble
man.NOM
donkey.ABS
he.saw
‘The
man
saw
the
donkey’
okol.i
xiyawt.o
yuble
donkey.NOM
man.ABS
he.saw
‘The
donkey
saw
the
man’
xiyawt.o
uble
‘I
saw
a
man’
man.ABS
I.saw
yemeete
tii
xiyawt.o
kinni
he.came
one-‐that
man.ABS
to-‐be
‘The
one
who
came
is
a
man’
10. Ergative-Absolutive: Nominative-Accusative:
Absolutive (unmarked) Accusative (marked) (-a)
!"#$%$&#'()%**+,--() object,
.+,*&/%$,()0#/"-() adverbial form
topic, Nominative
subject of intransitive (unmarked) (-u)
verbs, !"#$%$&#'()%**+,--()
object, .+,*&/%$,()0#/"-()
adverbial form topic,
subject of intransitive
Ergative (marked)
agent (subject) of verbs,
transitive verbs agent (subject) of
transitive verbs
Proto-Afro-Asiatic ? Semitic Otherwise,
Otherwise, e.g., Basque e.g., Indo-European
)
11. Ergative-Absolutive: Nominative-Absolutive: Nominative-Accusative:
Absolutive (unmarked) Absolutive (unmarked) (-a) Accusative (marked) (-a)
!"#$%$&#'()%**+,--() !"#$%$&#'()%**+,--() object,
.+,*&/%$,()0#/"-() .+,*&/%$,()0#/"-() adverbial form
topic, topic, Nominative
subject of intransitive object, (unmarked) (-u)
verbs, adverbial form !"#$%$&#'()%**+,--()
object, Nominative (marked) (-u) .+,*&/%$,()0#/"-()
topic,
adverbial form subject of intransitive
Ergative (marked) verbs, subject of intransitive
agent (subject) of agent (subject) of verbs,
transitive verbs transitive verbs agent (subject) of
transitive verbs
Proto-Afro-Asiatic ? Berber, East Cushitic Semitic Otherwise,
Otherwise, e.g., Basque Otherwise, e.g., C. Nilotic e.g., Indo-European
)
17. The B and C pronoun form sets are not identical
(Fs Vycichl p. 490)
! "#!$%&%'(%')!&*+'+,'! -#!.,//01!&*+'+,'!
2.-! 3<!"!4!3#$µ ! 3%!5!!67*&'%() !
8.9! 3*" ! 3%*) !
8.:! 3*!+ ! 3%*!,+- !
;.9! 3." ! 3%." !
;.:! 3.! ! 3%.) !
<! <! <!
!
18. There is no original set of A pronoun forms
(Fs Vycichl p. 492)
The forms of the A pronoun, as actually attested in the Afro-siatic
languages, are obviously of four types:
1. B pronouns, unmodified; perhaps they were marked by a vocalic
ending, as in Semitic *šuwa < *šu-a, *šiya < *šī-a ).
2. B pronouns with additions; in the main, a stressed ending *-átV:
Egn. *kuwát, *suwát, etc.; Akk. yāti, kuāti etc.; Ge’ez wǝ’ǝtu, yǝ’ǝti, etc.
(Lipiński p. 308).
3. A base *’an-, to which stative endings or other pronominal
elements are attached: Akk. anāku, Sem. Cush. *’anta / *’antī, etc.
4. Nominal bases with a C pronoun added; this is obviously a late
feature, as Egn. int-k / int-T, int-f / int-s; Beja barū-k / batū-k, barū-s /
batū-s.
19. Correlation of case functions
of personal pronouns and substantives
!"#$%&'("#()*%*+%## ,"#-'('%&'%.#()*%*+%# /"#0+1123#()*%*+%#
quotation form; subject of adjectival possessive=genitive (pr!j
predicate (jnk pw it is I) predicate my house)
partly, subject of nominal (nfr wj I’m good)
predicate object prepositional
(jnk sn!k I’m your (sDm wj hear me!) (Hr!f on him)
brother) with thetic elements
augens (m!k wj here I am!; subject of verbal predicate
(m pr!j jnk in my nn sw he does not (sdm!j I’ll hear)
own house) exist)
~ absolutive case, ~ absolutive case ~ nominative/
absolute state dependent state genitive case
#
#
20. speculations...
AA originally of ergative-absolutive alignment ?
Typically of nominative-absolutive alignment
(Berber, Cushitic, ...)
Could develop to nominative-accusative alignment
(Semitic) —
with conspicuous residues of the old structure, in
particular in Classical Arabic —
predicative, adverbial, etc. uses of the naSb.
