Talk:Switch-reference

More info, better writing, and examples will soon follow. Ergative rlt 06:19, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

Examples
My ineptness with tables and other formatting methods is holding up some of my intended examples, as everything comes out ugly. If I can't get them to come out right, I'll add them in the best approximation that I can, and perhaps someone else can clean them up. Ergative rlt 20:51, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

Questions regarding non-canonical switch-reference example
In the article I read: "In addition, many languages exhibit non-canonical switch-reference, the co-referents of arguments other than the subject being marked by switch-reference. Here is an example from Kiowa (Watkins 1993):

Kathryn gʲà kwút gɔ Esther-àl gʲà kwút

Kathryn 'she-it' write.PFV and.SS Esther-too 'she-it' write.PFV

Kathryn wrote a letter and Esther wrote one, too."

First of all, I do not know whether the verb form kwút includes the lexical meaning of letter. If not, I think an indiciation of letter is missing in the Kiowa example.

Secondly, I understand that this paragraph addresses the switch-referencing (or not) of other elements than the subject. Then why is the Kiowa word gɔ marked as being and.SS? I understand that and.SS indicates  same subject. But there seem to be different subjects in the example sentence, or is there perhaps ergativity or passivity at play? Please clarify.Redav (talk) 17:35, 6 September 2018 (UTC)