Syntax — Tutorial Exercises — Week 8
Do: KROEGER 7A AND 7B DYIRBAL
PATTERNS OF ARGUMENT MARKING
The following example sentences are in Dyirbal, an Australian Aboriginal language traditionally
spoken in the Cairns rainforest region. The data are adapted from Dixon (1972) The Dyirbal
language of north Queensland.
1a. balan jugumbil balgan someone is hitting the woman
b. balgan balan jugumbil
2a. ngayguna balgan someone is hitting me
b. balgan ngayguna
3a. bayi yara yanuli the man has to go
b. yanuli bayi yara
4a. balan jugumbil banggul yaranggu balgan
b. balgan balan jugumbil banggul yaranggu
c. banggul yaranggu balan jugumbil balgan the man is hitting the woman
d. banggul yaranggu balgan balan jugumbil
e. balan jugumbil balgan banggul yaranggu
f. balgan banggul yaranggu balan jugumbil
5. bayi yara banggun jugumbiru balgan the woman is hitting the man
6a. balan jugumbil badinyu the woman falls down
b. badinyu balan jugumbil
7a. ngaja nginuna balgan
b. balgan ngaja nginuna
c. nginuna ngaja balgan I am hitting you
d. nginuna balgan ngaja
e. ngaja balgan nginuna
f. balgan nginuna ngaja
8. nginda ngayguna balgan you are hitting me
9. ngaja bayi yara balgan I am hitting the man
10. bayi yara yanu the man is going
11. bayi bargan banggul yaranggu jurrganyu the man is spearing a wallaby
12. ngayguna banggul yaranggu balgan the man is hitting me
13. bayi yara baninyu the man is coming
14. balan jugumbil yanu the woman is going
15. balan jugumbil baninyu the woman is coming
16. nginda baninyu you are coming
17. ngaja baninyu I am coming
Describe the case system of Dyirbal. Note: Do not try to account for the morphological changes in
the verbs, and do not worry about the detailed allomorphy of the case suffixes.
a. Begin your analysis by filling in the spaces below with the appropriate Dyirbal forms:
subject of transitive clause:
the man
the woman
object of transitive clause:
the man
the woman
the wallaby
subject of intransitive clause:
the man
the woman
subject of transitive clause:
I
you
object of transitive clause:
me
you
subject of intransitive clause:
I
you
b. What role do you observe word order in Dyirbal playing as a means of coding grammatical
relations?
Case and agreement 119
Possessor agreement and preposition agreement (which we have not dis-
cussed here) are less common; both patterns involve heads agreeing with
NPs. The most common type of agreement pattern, found in every human
language (as far as we know), is the agreement between a pronoun and its
antecedent. This topic will be discussed in the next chapter.
Exercises
7A Quiché agreement (Guatemala; Larsen 1987; Trechsel 1993)15
Describe the verb agreement system of Quiché as revealed in the following
examples, and provide a position class chart showing the structure of the
verb. Note: the prefix r- is realized as u:- before vowels. You should ignore
vowel length in affixes, which is morphophonemic, and the verbal suffixes
which are glossed as suff . Hint: it may be helpful to make a work-chart
of the agreement markers similar to that shown in (29) above.
1. a x-at-b’iin-ik.
pfv-2sg-walk-suff
‘you (sg) walked.’
b x-oj-b’iin-ik.
pfv-1pl-walk-suff
‘we walked.’
c ka-Ø-b’iin-ik.
imperf -3sg-walk-suff
‘he walks.’
d k(a)-e’-war-ik.
imperf -3pl-sleep-suff
‘they sleep.’
e x-in-war-ik.
pfv-1sg-sleep-suff
‘I slept.’
f laa ix x-ix-tzaaq-ik?
Q 2pl pfv-2pl-fall-suff
‘Were you (pl) the ones who fell?’
2. a x-at-qa-ch’ay-o.
pfv-2sg-1pl-hit-suff
‘we hit you (sg).’
b x-oj-a-ch’ay-o.
pfv-1pl-2sg-hit-suff
‘you (sg) hit us.’
120 Analyzing Grammar: An Introduction
c jachin x-at-u-ch’ay-o?
who pfv-2sg-3sg-hit-suff
‘Who hit you (sg)?’
d aree ri at x-in-a-ch’ay-o.
focus the 2sg pfv-1sg-2sg-hit-suff
‘You (sg) were the one who hit me.’
e x-Ø-ii-to’-o.
pfv-3sg-2pl-help-suff
‘you (pl) helped him.’
f k(a)-ix-r-il-o.
imperf-2pl-3sg-see-suff
‘he/she sees you (pl).’
3. a x-Ø-inw-il ri aaq.
pfv-3sg-1sg-see the pig
‘I saw the pig.’
b ka-Ø-q’ab’ar ri ixoq.
imperf -3sg-get.drunk the woman
‘The woman gets drunk.’
c k(a)-e’-q’ab’ar ri ixoq-iib’.
imperf -3pl-get.drunk the woman-pl
‘The women get drunk.’
d x-Ø-u:-paq’ ri sii’ ri achii.
pfv-3sg-3sg-split the firewood the man
‘The man split the firewood.’
e jas x-Ø-u:-paq’ ri achii?
what pfv-3sg-3sg-split the man
‘What did the man split?’
f ee jachiin x-Ø-ki-tzaq ki-jastaaq?
pl who pfv-3sg-3pl-lost 3pl-thing
‘Who are the ones who lost their thing(s)?’
7B Southern Azerbaijani case (Iran; Lee 1996)
Describe the case system of Iranian Azerbaijani as revealed in the following
examples. Note: vowel quality in suffixes is affected by “vowel harmony.”
You should assume that /ə/ and /a/ are variant forms of the same vowel when
they occur in suffixes; and likewise for /-i/ and /i/. The consonants marked
with square brackets, [n] and [y], are inserted by a phonological rule and
can be ignored for the purposes of this problem.
1. inək öldi.
cow die
‘The cow died.’
Case and agreement 121
2. Məməd inə[y]i öldürdi.
Memed cow die-caus
‘Memed killed the cow (lit.: caused the cow to die).’
3. ev Ardabildə idi.
house Ardabil was
‘The house was in Ardabil.’
4. saat alt-ida evdən cixd-i.
hour six house came.out
‘He came out of the house at 6 o’clock.’
5. Fatma inəkinən evə qəyitdi.
Fatma cow home returned
‘Fatma returned home with the cow.’
6. (siz) evdə kitabi oxursuz.
2pl house book read-2pl
‘You are reading the book in the house.’
7. (siz) kitab oxursuz.
2pl book read-2pl
‘You are reading a book.’
8. alma[n]i Məməddən ald-im.
apple Memed bought-1sg
‘I bought the apple(s) from Memed.’
9. kitablar Bak-idan gəldilər.
books Baku come
‘The books came from Baku.’
10. Bak-i[y]a gedəcəksən?
Baku go-fut -2sg
‘Are you going to Baku?’
11. q-iz Məmədi gör-cək . . .
girl Memed saw-when
‘As soon as the girl saw Memed . . .’
12. oğlan q-iza alma[n]i verdi.
boy girl apple gave
‘The boy gave the apple to the girl.’
13. Məməd Fatma[y]a mektub verdi.
Memed Fatma letter gave
‘Memed gave a letter to Fatma.’
14. Məməd Fatma[y]a mektubi verdi.
Memed Fatma letter gave
‘Memed gave the letter to Fatma.’
15. Fatma inə[y]in ağz-i[n]a yuni verirmiş.
Fatma cow mouth-3sg wool was.giving
‘Fatma was giving wool to the cow’s mouth.’
122 Analyzing Grammar: An Introduction
16. indi dağda qar əriyir.
now mountain snow melts
‘Snow is melting on the mountain now.’
17. Həsən dağa sar-i irəli getdi.
Hasan mountain toward forward went
‘Hasan went straight toward the mountain.’
18. bir dağ qələ[y]ə yax-in idi.
one mountain castle near was
‘A mountain was near the castle.’
19. Məmədin at-i təz qaçdi.
Memed horse-3sg quickly ran
‘Memed’s horse ran quickly.’
20. arvad b-içağ-inan qarp-izi kəsdi.
woman knife watermelon cut
‘The woman cut the watermelon with a knife.’
21. Fatma[n]-in anas-i dedi.
Fatma mother-3sg said
‘Fatma’s mother said (it).’
22. olar ipi kəsdiler.
3pl rope cut
‘They cut the rope.’
23. onun əl-ayağ–i -[n]i ipinən bağlad-ilar.
3sg hand-foot-3sg rope bound
‘They bound his hands and feet with rope.’
24. ağaclari təpə[y]ə daş-id-ilar . . .
trees hill carried
‘They carried the trees to the hill . . .’
25. quşlar dağlara sar-i uçüşürdi.
birds mountains toward were.flying
‘Birds were flying toward the mountains.’
7C Yidiny case (Australia; Dixon 1977, 1980)
Based on the following examples, describe the case system of Yidiny. Note:
ignore changes in vowel length, which are phonologically predictable. Like-
wise, the endings -du, -bu and -ŋgu should be treated as phonological vari-
ants of the same morpheme.
1. yiŋu wagu:ja galiŋ.
this man go
‘This man is going.’
2. muja:mbu wagu:ja wawal.
mother man look.at
‘Mother is looking at the man.’
Syntax — Tutorial Exercises — Week 8