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A Grammar of Hokkaido Ainu

Knowledge base · Part XVIII — Information Structure, Sentence-Final Particles, and Minor Classes

142. Pragmatic Word-Order Permutation, Dislocation, and Argument Ellipsis

How does Hokkaido Ainu adjust word order for information structure, moving phrasess or omitting arguments, while keeping the verb final?

北海道アイヌ語は、情報構造に応じて語順を変え、句を移動させたり項を省略したりするが、動詞は末尾に保たれる。どのような仕組みか？

Departures from basic verb-final order for information-structural ends — scrambling, left/right dislocation, afterthought, and given-argument ellipsis.

candidate topic from the first edition topic:discourse/pragmatic-word-order-dislocation read this topic as text

3claims
14statements
14sources
5examples
6sections
65first-edition sentences

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The chapter, its sections, the sources it cites, the chapters it cross-references, the forms it mentions most, and the claims grouped under it with the sources that assert, propose, doubt or reject each.

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Forms mentioned

ki 6anak(ne) 6patek 4ka 3anak 2patek ani 2anakne 1epakasnu 1an-yak 1ya 1ya an 1hunna 1hemanta 1hunak 1he=tuk-pa pa 1a= 1=an 1somo 1iteki 1ani patek 1ani 1wa 1hine 1kor 1

Claims

A claim is one proposition; under it stand the statements of each source, with the stance that source takes. Claims are grouped by a model from the extracted statements and carry that status until reviewed.

Sections

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Overview 1 claims ·11 sentences

What is the basic clause-level word order constraint in Hokkaido Ainu, and how free is the order of preverbal phrases?

  1. Word order in Ainu is generally free and pragmatically motivated.
    アイヌ語の語順は一般に自由であり、語用論的に動機づけられている。
    distribution ainu generally
    asserts bugaeva2015

Topic-initial order and left-fronting 1 claims ·12 sentences· 3 examples

How does Hokkaido Ainu signal topical noun phrases, and does it place them clause-initially?

  1. When context or semantics prevents misinterpretation, inversion of basic SOV order to OSV occurs in both Classical and colloquial Ainu.
    文脈や意味論が誤解を防ぐ場合、基本語順SOVからOSVへの倒置が古典アイヌ語でも口語アイヌ語でも生じる。
    distribution ainu universal
    asserts shibatani1990
a=kor seta anakne i=oyakke oma ka somo ki p ne kusu i=sam ta ukasuy ipe=an
4.A=have dog TOP 4.O=leave approach even NEG do NMLZ COP PURP 4.O=side LOC together eat=4.S
‘My dog, as for it, never left my side, so it ate with me.’
ilcaa1976 SAR 川上まつ子, AA研アイヌ語資料, 沙流
ku=nukar seta anakne ney ta ne yakka a=nukar seta ne noyne siran
1SG.A=see dog TOP where LOC COP even 4.A=see dog COP seem exist
‘The dog I saw looked like a dog you would see anywhere.’
ainukoraci1991 SAR 丸野和子, アイヌタイムズ, 沙流・千歳
Seta anakne a=kor ikor ne kusu onne wa isam pakno pirkano kasi a=oyki kuni p ne na
dog TOP 4.A=have treasure COP PURP die.old CONJ absent until well properly 4.A=care COMP NMLZ COP FIN
‘Dogs are our treasure, so one must care for them well until they die of old age.’
ainukoraci1991 SAR 神崎雅好, アイヌタイムズ, 沙流・千歳

Focus preposing and allative-marked IO fronting 9 sentences· 1 examples

Can focused constituents be fronted in Hokkaido Ainu, and how are indirect objects marked when moved?

ku=macihi orun topenpe ku=kore
1SG.A=wife ALLAT sweets 1SG.A=give
‘To my wife I gave the sweets (not to anyone else).’
constructed SHI

Right-dislocation and the afterthought construction 1 claims ·11 sentences· 1 examples

How does Hokkaido Ainu form right-dislocation or afterthought constructions, placing arguments after the verb?

  1. Ainu has a right-dislocation construction in which a nounless verb phrase is produced first and its subject or object is subsequently disambiguated by placing it as an argument of the transitive light verb ki 'do'.
    アイヌ語では名詞句を伴わない動詞句を先に発話し、その主語または目的語を後から他動詞的軽動詞ki「する」の項として後置する右方転位構文が存在する。
    distribution ainu existential ki
    asserts bugaeva2022
he=tuk-pa pa a=mat-ne-po-utar-i a=po-utar-i ki pa pe ne kusu
body=grow-PL PFV 4.A=wife-COP-child-ASS-POSS 4.A=child-ASS-POSS do PFV NMLZ COP PURP
‘They all grew up — the daughters and the children — because the children did so.’
bugaeva2022 CHI Bugaeva 2022 ch.1 ex.19, NINJAL corpus K8109171UP.296

Adjunct placement and preverbal order 8 sentences

Where do time, manner, and postpositional adjuncts appear in Hokkaido Ainu, and is their preverbal order constrained?

Discourse conditions and the interaction with ellipsis 14 sentences

Under what discourse conditions does Hokkaido Ainu omit an argument NP that is recoverable from context?