ネジバ語文法25: ピボット

As discussed in §9.1, an S/A argument is shared with each verb in cosubordination (1).

(1)
Var-aq=gat kar xu~xut, fuk=sot.
1sg.m-erg.hum=1:pst 3sg.m.abs tr~hit go=thither
“I hit him and (I) went away (A=S)”

However, an S/P argument, or an absolutive-marked argument, is shared across sentences. Compare (111) with (110).

(2)
Var-aq=gat kar xu~xut. Sat fuk=sot.
1sg.m-erg.hum=1:pst 3sg.m.abs tr~hit 3:pst go=thither
“I hit him and (he) went away (P=S)”

In other words, an S/A argument remains a pivot within a single sentence, while in a discourse, an S/P argument is preferred to be a shared pivot. That’s why Neziba has numerous syntactic devices to promote a non-absolutive-marked NP into an absolutive one. In (112)a, for instance, the topic is the first-person pronoun, which appears as null. In the subsequent sentence (112)b, Zipan “Japan” is now the topic, which is replaced by bas “there” and promoted into a P argument by goal-applicative.

(3)
a.
Gat Zipan-ki fuk.
1:pst Japan-dat.nhum go
“I went to Japan”
b.
Bas=sat kas-aq=mat ki-fuk
there.abs=3:pst 3sg.f-erg.hum=too goal-go
“She also went there”

In (113), Ziugo is shared with each sentence, being replaced by an omittable pronoun and marked by absolutive case.

(4)
a.
Ziugo=sat vosiptok-ki ku
Z.abs=3:pst school-dat come
“Jugo came to school”
b.
(Kar) sat vosipfat-aq kinu xu-xa~xag
3sg.m.abs 3:pst teacher-erg .hum clothes.abs ben-tr~give
“He was given clothes by a teacher”
c.
(Kar) sat gom-on ta~tan
3sg.m.abs 3:pst 3sg.nhum-erg.nhum tr~entertain
“He was happy with it”
d.
(Kar) sat-i mbe-ve ga-xip
3sg.m.abs 3:pst-nmlz thank-loc antip-say
“He said ‘thank you’”
e.
(Kar) isum-ki ku=sat-ke, (kar) sat nu
3sg.m.abs house-dat.nhum come=3:pst-com 3sg 3:pst sleep
“When he came home, he fell asleep’”

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