Argument Marking and Ergativity in Nepali Speech from the Darjeeling Hills
Ergativity, assigning intransitive subjects and transitive objects to the same case separately from transitive subjects, has been observed as a feature of Himalayan regional languages since at least the 1970s. However, varied (‘differential’) marking on transitive objects within the same case is also common in the region, and complicates case assignments and ergative classification. This study of Darjeeling Nepali provides a detailed analysis of case marking in a single dialect and reflections on the implications for ergative classification.
The study examines a corpus of 1502 Nepali speech clauses obtained from recorded narratives and conversations, and tallies marking on intransitive single argument S and transitive arguments A and O. The marking type is examined for correlation with tense/aspect, mood, and modality of the clause, as well as factors related to the argument noun phrases (NPs) such as person of A and animacy and definiteness of O arguments.
Transitivity is found to be a necessary factor for ergative marking in Nepali. Marking is obligatory in perfective transitive clauses, but variable in the imperfective. It is found to be proscribed in 1SG (first person singular) imperfective clauses. Imperfective non-1SG transitive clauses are pointed out for possible pragmatic ergative marking. Object marking is found to correlate most strongly with animacy of the O argument, but to play a role in marking definiteness, as well. Finally, a definition of ergativity which centres on differentiating A and S arguments rather than aligning S and O arguments through marking is proposed as being more helpful in analysing Nepali, and perhaps languages throughout the region and beyond.