Ergativity and Other Alignment Types in Neo-Aramaic

Download or read book Ergativity and Other Alignment Types in Neo-Aramaic written by Paul M. Noorlander and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-08-24 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The alignment splits in the Neo-Aramaic languages display a considerable degree of diversity, especially in terms of agreement. While earlier studies have generally oversimplified the actual state of affairs, Paul M. Noorlander offers a meticulous and clear account of nearly all microvariation documented so far, addressing all relevant morphosyntactic phenomena. By means of fully glossed and translated examples, the author shows that this vast variation in morphological alignment, including ergativity, is unexpected from a functional typological perspective. He argues the alignment splits are rather the outcome of several construction-specific processes such as internal system harmonization and grammaticalization, as well as language contact.