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A Grammar of Hokkaido Ainu

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

139. Reference Tracking and Argument Continuity

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

その言語は節をまたいで参与者を追跡するためにどのような仕組みを使うのか？

How participants are tracked across clauses: zero anaphora and pro-drop, person marking, the indefinite/fourth person as a tracking device, demonstrative/anaphoric reference, and switch-reference-like clause linkage (hine/akusu), drawn together as one system.

candidate topic from the first edition topic:discourse/reference-tracking read this topic as text

1claims
5statements
16sources
5examples
10sections
62first-edition sentences

Local network

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.

Related chapters

Forms mentioned

wa 6ku= 5=an 4a= 4hine 3anakne 3uwepeker 3anak(ne) 3i= 2en= 2or 2a p 2kore 1an= 1kamuy yukar 1ka 1sam 1corpok 1saranip or oma-re 1saranip oma-re 1a=kor seta anakne i=oyakke oma ka somo ki p ne kusu i=sam ta ukasuy ipe=an 1a korka 1a 1p 1korka 1tane 1kor 1kane 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

·

Overview 4 sentences

How does the language combine multiple mechanisms to track participants in discourse?

Zero anaphora 8 sentences· 1 examples

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.’
sato2025a:368–369 CHI

The fourth person in reference tracking 3 sentences

What role does the fourth-person form-set play in tracking participants in oral narratives?

Narrative first person 6 sentences· 1 examples

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.’
nakagawa2024:170 SAR Nakagawa ex. 127

Logophoric use in quotations 4 sentences

How is the reported speaker's first person indexed within direct quotations?

Characterization as obviation or switch-reference 9 sentences

What functional analogy has been drawn between the fourth person and obviation or switch-reference?

The location noun class as role disambiguator 8 sentences· 1 examples

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

Topic marking and participant tracking 6 sentences· 1 examples

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

Scene transition in narrative 6 sentences· 1 examples

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

The absence of morphological switch-reference 1 claims ·8 sentences

Does the language have a morphological switch-reference system?

  1. Two sentences connected by kane generally share the same subject, although there are exceptions.
    kaneで結ばれた2つの文は一般に主語を同一にするが、例外もある。
    distribution hokkaido/southwest/shizunai generally kane
    asserts refsing1986