Helmut Satzinger Università di Vienna

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  

BERBER CASE vs. ARABIC CASE

V S O

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    

BERBER CASE vs. ARABIC CASE

S V O

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    

BERBER CASE vs. ARABIC CASE

S V O

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  

BERBER CASE vs. ARABIC CASE

O V+ S

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  

BERBER CASE vs. ARABIC CASE

O V+ S

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

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.)

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’  

Ergative-Absolutive: Nominative-Accusative:

Absolutive (unmarked)

!"#$%$&#'()%**+,--().+,*&/%$,()0#/"-()topic, subject of intransitive verbs, object, adverbial form Ergative (marked) agent (subject) of transitive verbs

Accusative (marked) (-a) object, adverbial form Nominative (unmarked) (-u)

!"#$%$&#'()%**+,--().+,*&/%$,()0#/"-()topic, subject of intransitive verbs, agent (subject) of transitive verbs

Proto-Afro-Asiatic ? Otherwise, e.g., Basque

Semitic Otherwise, e.g., Indo-European

)

Ergative-Absolutive: Nominative-Absolutive: Nominative-Accusative:

Absolutive (unmarked)

!"#$%$&#'()%**+,--().+,*&/%$,()0#/"-()topic, subject of intransitive verbs, object, adverbial form Ergative (marked) agent (subject) of transitive verbs

Absolutive (unmarked) (-a)

!"#$%$&#'()%**+,--().+,*&/%$,()0#/"-()topic, object, adverbial form Nominative (marked) (-u) subject of intransitive verbs, agent (subject) of transitive verbs

Accusative (marked) (-a) object, adverbial form Nominative (unmarked) (-u)

!"#$%$&#'()%**+,--().+,*&/%$,()0#/"-()topic, subject of intransitive verbs, agent (subject) of transitive verbs

Proto-Afro-Asiatic ? Otherwise, e.g., Basque

Berber, East Cushitic Otherwise, e.g., C. Nilotic

Semitic Otherwise, e.g., Indo-European

)

EGYPTIAN personal pronoun ! "#!$%&'('%&'%)!

(*+%+,%!-+.&!/'*0'/1!2#!3'('%&'%)!(*+%+,%! 4#!5,6607!(*+%+,%!

854! jnk![/a»nak] *’anákV! wj *yuwa ?! !j [-i] *-i / -ya ?!95:! Twt [cu»wat]? *kuwátV?! Tw [cuw]? *kuwa ?! !k [-ak] *-ka!95;! Tmt [ci»mat]? *kimátV?! Tn [cin]? *kima ?! !T [-ic] *-ki!<5:! swt [su»wat]? *suwátV? sw [suw]? *suwa ? !f [-uf] *-fu ? < *-hu ? <5;! stt [si»tat]? *sitátV? sy [siy]? *siya ? !s [-as] *-sa …!

!

! "#!$%&'(#!()*%*+%!!!!!!,*-&!.')/'.0!

1#!2'('%&'%3!()*%*+%! 4#!5+66/7!()*%*+%!

854! jnk![/a»nak] *’anákV! wj *yuwa?! !j [-i] *-i / -ya ?!95:! Twt [cu»wat]? *kuwátV?! Tw [cuw]? *kuwa?! !k [-ak] *-ka!95;! Tmt [ci»mat]? *kimátV?! Tn [cin]? *kima?! !T [-ic] *-ki!…! ! ! ! quotation form;

predicate (jnk pw it is I) partly, subject of

nominal predicate (jnk sn!k I’m your brother)

augens (m pr!j jnk in my own house)

subject of adjectival predicate (nfr wj I’m good)

object (sDm wj hear me!)

with thetic elements (m!k wj here I am!; nn sw he does not exist)

possessive=genitive (pr!j my house)

prepositional

(Hr!f on him) subject of verbal predicate

(sdm!j I’ll hear)

~ absolutive case, absolute state

~ absolutive case ~ nominative/ genitive case

!

EGYPTIAN personal pronoun

! "#!$%&'!&%&()*+,-./!0%12!

3#!45%1/!!&%&()*+,-./!0%12!

6#!4*+,-./!0%12!

746! !""#!"$%#!"!!%#!&''%( !)( %*+!846! ,"$%#,"!!%#,"''%( ,+( %'+!94:! ,%%#,%!!%( ,%%( +-+,!94;! '&!%#'&!!%( '&&( )-.)#)-.&!<! ( ( (!

SAHO

personal pronoun

Cp. G. Banti, “Grammatical Notes,” 22, in Vergari & Vergari A Basic Saho-English-Italian Dictionary

! "#$%&!'%()"&! *+!,-#.-/0!('#-12!

*+!,-#.-/0!'%('#-12!

"#$%&!344'5&+!%$6/!!"!63'/$%7!355368#!!

*+!"#)"&!19-:!$%&!7!©;#8'()!

<!! =>?@ABCDEF! =>?@ABCDEF! 83!GHFIDCDEF!J!I@KDI=CDEF!

HFIDCDEF!J!I@KDI=CDEF!

HFIDCDEF!J!I@KDI=CDEF!

L?M! %-NN! 8O'PQ'! 8O'PQ'! 8O'PR! 8'!S?K! N-1 ˚1̊!! 8O'PN! 8OQP3N! 8O'PN! 8N!S?T! N-66! 8O'PN-6! 8OQP36! 8O'P6! 86!U?K! %-2 ç2 ç3! 8O'P2! 8OQP3/! 8O'P/! 8/!U?T! %-2 ç2 ç32!! 8O'P2 ç!OVP! 8OQP3/! 8O'P/! 8/!LWK! %-NR%'! OQP3©! OQP3©! 8%%-©! 8%-©!LWT! %-NR%2'! OQP3©! OQP3©! 8%%-©! 8%-©!SWK! N;%R'! 8O'PNR-%! 8OQP3R-%! 8%R-%! 8R-%!SWT! N;%%-62'! 8O'PNR-%2! 8OQP3NR-%2! 8%NR-%2! 8NR-%2!UWK! %;2%'! 8O'P2-%! 8OQP3/-%! 8%/-%! 8/-%!UWT! %;2-%2'! 8O'P2-%2! 8OQP3/-%2! 8%/-%2! 8/-%2!!!

BERBÈRE pronom personnel

Cp. A. Mettouchi, « Le “t” n'est-il qu'une marque de féminin en berbère (kabyle)? », dans La Catégorisation dans les langues, Faits de Langue n° 14, Ophrys, Gap-Paris 2000, particulièrement pp. 223-224.

! " # $ % & ' ( " ) * + ) , + - % . $ ( * " / ) 0 % . ( " / " 1 / * % 2 ! + / 3 1 0 ) ( 4 %! "#$%&%'! ()*+&%,-!! .#/01!23,0*415!!61!7-8#+#-8#-&!+/9-9:-!;1! *’anå(ku) jnk -#33 <1$1! *’anta †wt < *kw=t 3#' ˚'̊ <1>! *’antŒ †mt < *km=t 3#$$ ?1$1! *‚¨ sw=t -#& ç& ç, ?1>1 *‚Œ st=t -#& ç& ç,& .1!@#+#-8#-&!+/9-9:-!;1! (=nŒ) wj < *jw? =2%5*% <1$1! A! †w < *kw =2%53 <1>! A! †n < *km =2%53#$ ?1$1! A! sw =2%5& ?1>1 A! sj; st =2%5&!B1!":>>%C!+/9-9:-!;1! *= /*=ya =j =% <1$1! *=ka =k =3 <1>! *= =† ki) =$!D=3%$ ?1$1! *=‚¨ =f =E ?1>1! *=‚å =s =E!!!

! "#!$%&%'(%')!&*+'+,'! -#!.,//01!&*+'+,'!2.-! 3<!"!4!3#$µ ! 3%!5!!67*&'%() !8.9! 3*" ! 3%*) !8.:! 3*!+ ! 3%*!,+- !;.9! 3." ! 3%." !;.:! 3.! ! 3%.) !<! <! <!!

The B and C pronoun form sets are not identical (Fs Vycichl p. 490)

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.

Correlation of case functions of personal pronouns and substantives

!"#$%&'("#()*%*+%## ,"#-'('%&'%.#()*%*+%# /"#0+1123#()*%*+%#quotation form; predicate (jnk pw it is I) partly, subject of nominal

predicate (jnk sn!k I’m your brother)

augens (m pr!j jnk in my own house)

subject of adjectival predicate (nfr wj I’m good)

object (sDm wj hear me!)

with thetic elements (m!k wj here I am!; nn sw he does not exist)

possessive=genitive (pr!j my house)

prepositional

(Hr!f on him) subject of verbal predicate

(sdm!j I’ll hear)

~ absolutive case, absolute state

~ absolutive case dependent state

~ nominative/ genitive case

##

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.