SLIDE 29 Introduction The Indo-Aryan Situation Diachronic Evidence Previous Explanations An Alternative View Conclusion References
Markedness and Dependent Case
◮ An attractive notion is markedness (see Malchukov and de Swart
(2009), de Hoop (2009) for surveys).
◮ New case markers are predicted to arise first in situations where
it is difficult to distinguish agents/subjects from patients/objects, i.e., in marked situations. A O S
◮ Typical As: animate, agentive (transitive), topical ◮ Typical Os: inanimate, indefinite
◮ Dependent Case
◮ Similar focus on just a subset of core arguments. ◮ Posits systematic asymmetries between external and internal
arguments.
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