Knowledge base · Part XVIII — Information Structure, Sentence-Final Particles, and Minor Classes · this topic as a network

139. Reference Tracking and Argument Continuity

What mechanisms does the language use to track participants across clauses?

1 sentences from 16 sources · every sentence names the pages it rests on

Zero anaphora

How does the language treat noun phrases that are recoverable from context?

tan-pe topen-pe ne na ekasi ku=kore na

DEM-NMLZ sweet-NMLZ COP FIN old.man 1SG.A=give FIN

‘This is a sweet. I'll give it to the old man.’

How does the protagonist-narrator index themselves in first-person narratives?

i=erampokiwen i=rewsire wa i=kore

4.O=pity 4.O=lodge CONJ 4.O=give

‘Take pity on me and give me lodging.’

How do location nouns help disambiguate participant roles for zero-marked arguments?

cep saranip or a=oma-re

fish basket LOC 4.A=put.in-CAUS

‘She put the fish into the basket.’

· constructed

How is a topic introduced or re-introduced after an interval in discourse?

a=kor seta anakne i=sam ta arpa=an

4.A=have dog TOP 4.O=near LOC go=4.S

‘As for my dog, it went right beside me.’

· constructed

How do clause-chaining markers relate to participant continuity in narrative episodes?

oka=an a p tane poro=an wa inkar=an

exist=4.S PFV NMLZ now grow.up=4.S CONJ look.around=4.S

‘[We] had been living — and now I had grown up and looked around.’

· constructed

Does the language have a morphological switch-reference system?

Two sentences connected by kane generally share the same subject, although there are exceptions. (Refsing 1986: 251)