User talk:A R King/private area/Basque grammatical relations (DRAFT)

Grammatical relations are represented in Basque grammar by case marking of noun phrases (the forms of which are presented above in the section on the Noun Phrase), and also, in the case of nuclear (absolutive, ergative or dative) arguments, by indexing on the finite verb (as explained in the article on Basque verbs). Thus Basque has a double system of grammatical relation marking which combines dependent-marking (the case suffixes) and head-marking (verbal indexing). The two systems are mutually symmetrical, in that they both refer to a single set of case relation categories and consequently agree with each other. For example, if a given argument in a given clause is dative for the case-marking system it is also dative for the verb-indexing system, and vice-versa; and likewise for the other nuclear relations (ergative and absolutive).

Typologically, Basque may thus be contrasted with languages of various kinds: both with dependent-marking languages in which grammatical relations are only (or principally) marked through cases, but not (or less extensively) indexed in the verb (e.g. modern Swedish), and with head-marking languages in which, on the contrary, grammatical relations are registered through indices in the verb but without any case marking on arguments (e.g. Swahili). There are also languages in which case-marking and verb-indexing systems are combined but do not "agree" with each other (e.g. in some Oceanic languages, case marking is of an ergative type whereas verb indices follow a pattern of an accusative type). The perception of Basque syntax often assumed in grammatical descriptions whereby verbs are said to "agree" with nominal arguments (rather than the other way around), which frames Basque grammatical relations in primarily dependent-marking terms, may be traceable to a predisposition to perceive a dependent-marking system, given that most European languages are predominantly dependent-marking languages.

Thus in the Swahili sentence (Ashton, Swahili grammar, p. 218) Chura alimkasirikia mjusi 'The frog was angry with the lizard' it is the form of the verb alimkasirikia  alone that indicates what may be called a dative (rather than accusative) relation of the argument mjusi 'lizard'; the latter bears no case marking whatsoever.


 * SWAHILI Chura ALIMKASIRIKIA mjusi. [frog (it).was.angry.with.(it) lizard] 'The frog was angry with the lizard.'

On the contrary, in the Vulgar Latin sentence Mulier fructum viro suo dedit 'The woman gave the fruit to the man', the case marking on the noun vir 'man, husband' alone, and not the verb form dedit 'gave', tells us that it is in the dative case.


 * LATIN Mulier fructum VIRO dedit. [woman.NOMINATIVE fruit.ACCUSATIVE man.DATIVE (she).gave] 'The woman gave the fruit to the man.'

Now in Basque, both the "dative" verb form (often actually the auxiliary) and the dative case suffix of the noun phrase representing the argument in question provide the same information (redundantly) about the latter's dative grammatical relation:


 * Jauna biziki haserretu ZITZAION UZARI. [lord.ARTICLE intensely get.angry.PARTICIPLE INTRANSITIVE.DATIVE.AUXILIARY Uzzah.DATIVE] 'The Lord was incensed at Uzzah.' II Samuel, 6:7; Elizen arteko Biblia, p. 371-2
 * Emakumeak fruitua bere SENARRARI eman ZION. [woman.ARTICLE.ERGATIVE fruit.ARTICLE her husband.ARTICLE.DATIVE give.PARTICIPLE TRANSITIVE.DATIVE.AUXILIARY] 'The woman gave the fruit to her husband.'

In such sentences the verb-group possesses the ability to stand alone as a Basque sentence, because Basque syntax has a feature that many linguists refer to as pro-drop. The meaning of this term is that by the language's syntactic rules, noun phrases that specify the meaning or reference of the arguments (subject, objects...) of the verb in the clause are not essential to a complete sentence, and thus need not appear at all - not even as pronouns as is minimally required in languages without pro[noun] drop, such as English. In English, the minimal expression of the above propositions, assuming we know who is being talked about and so need not spell this out, still must contain pronouns:


 * HE was incensed at HIM.
 * SHE gave IT to HIM.

whereas in Basque, such pronouns are not necessary for these sentences to be considered complete:


 * Haserretu zitzaion.
 * Eman zion.

In Basque, the existence of pro-drop for these subjects and objects is connected to the redundant expression of grammatical relations in the more explicit sentences seen above.

Both the redundancy and the pro-drop option are limited to arguments whose case markers in Basque (when there is a noun phrase with which to use these) are one of the nuclear cases: absolutive, ergative or dative. Arguments in other cases are not indexed in the verb and fall outside this part of the grammatical system. For example, another way to say Jauna biziki haserretu zitzaion Uzari is Jauna biziki haserretu zen Uzarekin, using the comitative case: 'the Lord became angry with Uzzah'. If the noun phrase Uzarekin were omitted from this sentence the meaning would change considerably: Jauna biziki haserretu zen 'The Lord got very angry'. To preserve the original sense of the predicate, even if reference to Uzzah is omitted, its place would be taken by a third-person personal pronoun as a place holder capable of bearing the comitative case: berarekin or harekin. The instrumental, comitative and benefactive are among the non-nuclear cases which may mark the arguments selected by certain Basque verbs.