We are happy to announce a talk by Sascha Alexeyenko (Universität Göttingen) in the Syntax Colloquium.
The talk will take place in person. Room IG 4.301
Date: December 05
Time: 4 pm – 6 pm ct
Title: Modelling the direct-inverse system of Mapudungun
Abstract:
The direct-inverse system of Mapudungun/Mapuche (Araucanian; Chile, Argentina) presents a puzzling pattern of verbal marking in the so-called local scenarios, i.e. scenarios in which the arguments of a transitive clause are 1/2P speech act participants. In particular, the otherwise regular direct-inverse marking pattern breaks down, new markers emerge that do not otherwise appear in the paradigm, and the agreement system becomes sensitive to the cumulative number of the participants involved. The aim of this talk is to show that existing analyses of direct-inverse systems in terms of person licensing, most notably those by Bruening (2001) and Béjar and Rezac (2009), fall short in accounting for Mapudungun data and to offer an alternative account, which incorporates some of their insights, but differently from any existing analyses, relies on the direct interaction between argument DPs.