Postverbal pronominal subjects in Chechen and Ingush SLE

Post-verbal pronominal subjects in Chechen and Ingush SLE 2017, Zürich Erwin R. Komen Radboud University Nijmegen / SIL-International Robert D. Bugenhagen SIL-International e. komen@ru. nl robert. bugenhagen@svk. fi

Chechen and Ingush Chechen & Ingush 2 / 44

Chechen and Ingush 1. Both belong to the NAKH group Chechen & Ingush 3 / 44

Chechen and Ingush 1. Both belong to the NAKH group 2. All Nakh-Dagestanian languages: a. SOV – obligatory in sub clauses Chechen & Ingush 4 / 44

Chechen and Ingush 1. Both belong to the NAKH group 2. All Nakh-Dagestanian languages: a. SOV – obligatory in sub clauses 3. Chechen and Ingush main clauses: 1. Chechen 2. Ingush default is S…Vf default is Vf…S Chechen & Ingush 5 / 44

Contents 1. Introduction… 2. Chechen a) Hypotheses b) Corpus research 3. Ingush a) Hypotheses b) Data c) Departures from the default 4. Discussion a) Structural difference b) Future work Chechen & Ingush 6 / 44

Contents 1. Introduction… 2. Chechen a) Hypotheses b) Corpus research 3. Ingush a) Hypotheses b) Data c) Departures from the default 4. Discussion a) Structural difference b) Future work Chechen & Ingush 7 / 44

Chechen: hypotheses 1. What we knew a) Sub clause: strictly SOV b) Main clause: § Default is SOV § Pre-verbal slot: focus (Komen 2007) S (1) O V Hoora aexka, diesharan sho cheqdaelcha, txan naanas so Ustrada-Evla vaalavuora. every learning. GEN year finished. WHEN our me Ustrada-village. ALL V. bring. IMPF summer mother. ERG Every summer, when the school year would end, our mother used to take me to the village Ustrada. Arsanukaev 1 -2013: 4 Chechen & Ingush 8 / 44

Chechen: hypotheses 1. What we knew a) Sub clause: strictly SOV b) Main clause: § Default is SOV § Pre-verbal slot: focus (Komen 2007) § Reported speech: SV or VS (Kibrik e. a. 2001; Forker & Belyaev 2016) S (1) O V Hoora aexka, diesharan sho cheqdaelcha, txan naanas so Ustrada-Evla vaalavuora. every learning. GEN year finished. WHEN our me Ustrada-village. ALL V. bring. IMPF summer mother. ERG Every summer, when the school year would end, our mother used to take me to the village Ustrada. Arsanukaev 1 -2013: 4 V (2) S T’aaqqa Ishkoliehw diesha a aatta xir du, oolura txan neenavashas then school. LOC learn. INF & easy will be say. IMPF our uncle. ERG “Then he would learn more easily at school”, our uncle said. Arsanukaev 1 -2013: 13 Chechen & Ingush 9 / 44

Chechen: hypotheses 1. What we knew a) Sub clause: strictly SOV b) Main clause: § Default is SOV § Pre-verbal slot: focus (Komen 2007) § Reported speech: SV or VS (Kibrik e. a. 2001; Forker & Belyaev 2016) 2. Extension a) Main clause postverbal subjects: § Presentational focus (new subject, participant introduction) (compare Forker & Belyaev 2016 for Dargi) V (3) S Qu sheran aprelj butt ghaalin juqq’ierachu juqq’ie bolush kyertachu bibliotekiehw dwaahwur ju “maashariehwa bu noxchiin po’etash”, aella jolu quollarallin syyrie This year in mid April will be held a literature event “…” in the city’s main library This year in the middle of April, a literature event called “Chechen poets are for peace” will be held in the downtown main library. p 86 -00035: 2 Chechen & Ingush 10 / 44

Chechen: hypotheses 1. What we knew a) Sub clause: strictly SOV b) Main clause: § Default is SOV § Pre-verbal slot: focus (Komen 2007) § Reported speech: SV or VS (Kibrik e. a. 2001; Forker & Belyaev 2016) 2. Extension a) Main clause postverbal subjects: § Presentational focus (new subject, participant introduction) (compare Forker & Belyaev 2016 for Dargi) 3. New hypothesis a) Main clause pronominal (and topical actor) subjects: § Usually occur pre-verbally § Can occur post-verbally (see comment in Forker & Belyaev 2016 for Hinuq and Icari) Chechen & Ingush 11 / 44

Contents 1. Introduction… 2. Chechen a) Hypotheses b) Corpus research 3. Ingush a) Hypotheses b) Data c) Departures from the default 4. Discussion a) Structural difference b) Future work Chechen & Ingush 12 / 44

Chechen: corpus research 1. Content of the corpus (Nijmegen Parsed Corpus of Modern Chechen) Texts 70 Sentences with overt subject Words http: //erwinkomen. ruhosting. nl/crp/che 572 12029 2. Search a) Main clause + overt subject 3. Results… a) Most subjects are pre-verbal b) Most pronominal subjects are pre-verbal Subject Sbj … Vfin … Sbj Nominal + pronominal (all) 67, 5% (386) 32, 5% (186) Pronominal: personal + demonstrative 61, 5% (118) 38, 5% (74) Chechen & Ingush 13 / 44

Chechen: corpus research 3. Quantitative results a) Most subjects are pre-verbal b) Most pronominal subjects are pre-verbal Subject Sbj … Vfin … Sbj Nominal + pronominal (all) 67, 5% (386) 32, 5% (186) Pronominal: personal + demonstrative 63, 4% (118) 36, 6% (68) c) What about the post-verbal pronominal subjects? Subject Person Demonstrative pronoun Vfin-S-x Vfin-x-S-x 2 4 0 0 Personal pronoun 1 14 4 0 1 Personal pronoun 2 4 3 0 0 Personal pronoun 3 28 8 0 0 94 14 4 28 Compare: Nominal Chechen & Ingush 14 / 44

Chechen: corpus research 4. Post-verbal pronominal subjects (4) I saw my grandmother walking along the railroad. She wore a large shawl and carried a long stick; the one she would usually take when she would go to look for me. [PP Aexkienan dovxachu diinahw] [PP Ustrada-Evlara Dzhalqie qaacchalc] [PP aechgan nieq‘a t’exula] swaje’aniera iza Arsanukaev 1 -2012: 113 on a warm summer day all the way from Ustrada-village to Dzhalki along the railroad J. came she Chechen & Ingush 15 / 44 Incremental processing: expected subject Resolution

Chechen: corpus research 4. Post-verbal pronominal subjects (4) I saw my grandmother walking along the railroad. She wore a large shawl and carried a long stick; the one she would usually take when she would go to look for me. [PP Aexkienan dovxachu diinahw] [PP Ustrada-Evlara summer. GEN warm. OBL day. LOC Ustrada-village. ABL Dzhalqie qaacchalc] [PP aechgan nieq‘a t’exula] swaje’aniera iza Dzhalki. GOAL until iron road. ALL by had. J. come 3 s. NOM She had come on a warm summer day all the way from Ustrada village to Dzhalki along the railroad. Arsanukaev 1 -2012: 113 on a warm summer day all the way from Ustrada-village to Dzhalki along the railroad J. came she Incremental processing: expected subject Resolution Cohesion: 1. Pronoun link 2. Confirmation of expectation Chechen & Ingush 16 / 44

Contents 1. Introduction… 2. Chechen a) Hypotheses b) Corpus research 3. Ingush a) Hypotheses b) Data c) Departures from the default 4. Discussion a) Structural difference b) Future work Chechen & Ingush 17 / 44

Ingush Hypotheses Basic principles of Ingush word order according to Nichols (2011) “Ingush uses verb-final order in non-main and some main clauses, and verb -second order in most main clauses… Verb-final order, usually AOV and SV, can be found in pragmatically neutral main clauses including elicited simple sentences with no context. ” (673) In texts, episode-initial main clauses and spoken clauses with all new information exhibit verb final word order. (674) “The grammatically most basic order of arguments is SV, AOV, AGTV (where G = the more goal-like argument and T = the more theme-like argument of ditransitives). ” (677) Modal adjuncts followed by event adjuncts expressing time, place, reason, frequentives) occur sentence/clause initially before arguments and quasi arguments (subcategorized goals and locations). Manner adverbs occur immediately before the verb. (677 -678) Chechen & Ingush 18 / 44

Ingush Hypotheses Ingush main clause examples with verb-final order (1) Suona ghalghaai mott 1 s. DAT Ingush dika language well xaac know. NEG ‘I don't know Ingush very well. ’ (2) Muusaaz gazet ieshazh dy Musa. ERG newspaper reading is ‘Musa is reading the paper. ’ (Examples from Nichols, 673) (3) Aaz sei bierazhta axcha dalar 1 s. ERG 1 s. RFL. GEN children. DAT money ‘I gave my children money. ’ (examples from Nichols 673 -674) Chechen & Ingush 19 / 44 gave

Ingush Hypotheses Topic and Focus “Topics are usually clause-initial… A focused word or phrase follows a topic but precedes the rest of the clause. ” (Nichols: 678) “The focal word or phrase is fronted and often clause-initial. The verb (unless that is focal) immediately follows the focal word or phrase. ” (Nichols, 686) Other elements follows the verb in their usual order. Chechen & Ingush 20 / 44

Ingush Hypotheses “Nakh-Daghestanian languages are usually assumed to possess an unmarked SOV word order. While this order of constituents is indeed most frequently used, the ordering of constituents is not determined by grammatical relations, but by information structure… In all Nakh-Daghestanian languages, topic constituents are positioned at the edges of the clause. Clause-initial topics are common, though clause-final topics are also found. The distribution appears to be the following: highly activated NPs (that represent “old” information, or protagonists) are placed at the right edge of the clause, while NPs with lesser degrees of activation are placed at the beginning of the clause. ” (Forker and Belyaev, 2015: 240) Chechen & Ingush 21 / 44

Ingush Hypotheses Thesis of this presentation: 1) Post-verbal position in Ingush main clauses is the default position for topical actors. This is true for completely new or reintroduced topical actors and also for activated topical actors whose referents are simply being maintained. 2) This default can be overridden yielding a preverbal position if pragmatic focus (contrast/emphasis) is placed on the participant. Chechen & Ingush 22 / 44

Contents 1. Introduction… 2. Chechen a) Hypotheses b) Corpus research 3. Ingush a) Hypotheses b) Data c) Departures from the default 4. Discussion a) Structural difference b) Future work Chechen & Ingush 23 / 44

Ingush Data Corpus: 1) Some texts from Johanna Nichols’ Ingush grammar. 2) A number of interlinearized Ingush texts collected and glossed with Russian glosses provided by a colleague, Aleksandr Migunov, from the Institute for Bible Translation in Moscow. Chechen & Ingush 24 / 44

Ingush Data: Post-verbal position in main clauses is the default for topical actors A. Introduction of completely new, highly topical participants at the beginning of a story (4) Hwunagha da’a hama ‘a ca koradea, in. forest to. eat thing & not finding ‘Not finding anything to eat in the forest, mocalla k’alajusacha ‘a qeacha, from. hunger growing. weak and growing weak from hunger, jurta jiste ghertai bordz. village wolf to. edge turned. to approaching a wolf turned aside to the edge of a village. Cigga qiittad cogh dersta toadenna zhwalii. There dog met 3 S. LAT fat stout There a fat, stout dog met up with him. (Text provided by A. Migunov. ) Chechen & Ingush 25 / 44

Ingush Data: Post-verbal position in main clauses is the default for topical actors In this text, there are: 26 overt or implied references to the wolf 25 to the dog 8 to the man/ owner of the dog 3 generic references 2 references to the dog’s neck 23 post-verbal Subjects 1 post-verbal Object, 1 post-verbal dative (Both refer to the highly topical dog. ) 9 pre-verbal Subects (8 expressing contrast, parallel, or some other type of emphasis, 1 is a Subject complement clause) So 25/34 (74%) of the main clauses in tis text have the topical actor occurring postverbally. Other texts show a range of 56 -77%, with most being in the mid 70 s. Chechen & Ingush 26 / 44

Ingush Data: A discourse explanation: Post-verbal position in main clauses is the default for topical actors A. A. A. (5) Introduction of completely new, highly topical participants at the beginning of a story + maintaining an already introduced and activated referent C'esta ghumagh bie=‘a jellaa, copper. GEN water. pitcher hand. ADV=& J. be. located. Cvant koa=t’y laattazh xannuu yz Oaldama Gheaza. yard. ADV=on stand. Cvsim be. NW. V DEM (name). GEN (name) (a) 'Oaldama Gheazai stood in his yard holding a copper water pitcher in his hand. ' Ruzban-meazhdigie laamaz diezazh xannuu yz. central_mosque. ADV prayer D. do. INF D. should. CV be. NW. V 3 Sg. Nom (b) ‘It was time for him to go to Friday prayers in the central mosque. Note here that after the topical participant Oaldama Gheaza has been introduced, he continues to be the most topical actor and is referred to with a post-verbal pronoun yz. Chechen & Ingush 27 / 44

Ingush Data: A discourse explanation: Post-verbal position in main clauses is the default for topical actors Xexkaa vienuu cwalxa cwa bearii ride. CV came alone horseman ‘Up rode a lone horseman. ’ [intervening material=conversation between Oaldama Gheaza and the first rider] Cyl=‘a chexkagh viena qeachaav shollagh bearii. 3 s. CSN=& fast. CMP V. come. CVant arrived second horseman ‘Even faster, up came a second rider. ’ (from Nichols, 755 -756) [intervening material =message brought by the second rider to Oaldama Gheaza] Chechen & Ingush 28 / 44

Ingush Data: A discourse explanation: Post-verbal position in main clauses is the default for topical actors Qoalagh='a qeachaav cwalxa cwa bearii third=& alone horseman arrived ‘A third lone riderj arrived. ’ Salaam='a danna, eannad cuo greeting=& D. give. CVant said 3 S. ERG ‘Hej [=the third horseman] gave a greeting and said…’ [Quote follows. ] After the third horseman has been introduced, he is referred to in the next sentence with the post-verbal pronoun cuo. Chechen & Ingush 29 / 44

Ingush Data: A discourse explanation: Post-verbal position in main clauses is the default for topical actors The post-verbal position is normally filled by a topical participant bearing either the S or A syntactic role and nominative (i. e. absolutive) or ergative morphological cases- But it is possible to have other cases occur. 6) Baga mel xynna carjg dwajeannai in. mouth all having. been tooth have. gone. away my joax-ii hwa. EMPH extracted-common. knowledge 2 S. GEN ‘It is well known that all of your teeth have fallen out. ’ 7) Da’a hama mychara koradoagha hwuona? eat falls. into. hands 2 S. DAT thing from. where ‘From where do things to eat fall into your hands? ’ (Migunov texts. ) [A number of Ingush predicates normally take subjects in the dative case. ] Chechen & Ingush 30 / 44

Ingush Data: A discourse explanation: Post-verbal position in main clauses is the default for topical actors Where the Object exhibits greater topicality, it, too, may occur in the post-verbal position. . (8) Ea’, saguo diixka loattadu hwo? Oh man. ERG tied 2 S. NOM keeps ‘Oh, the man keeps you tied? ’ Chechen & Ingush 31 / 44

Ingush Data: A discourse explanation: Post-verbal position in main clauses is the default for topical actors B. Reintroduction of already introduced topical actors into a story (9) “Sella dika qabbal, fy dika du wa cunna? ” so well to. feed what good do 2 S. ERG 3 S. DAT “For [him (=the man)] to feed [you, i. e. the dog] so well, what good thing do you do for him? ” (Note: primary (dog) + secondary (man) topical actors both follow the main verb here. ) eanna, cecjeannai bordz. saying was. surprised wolf said the wolf in surprise. “Biisanna kou-kart loradu aaz. ” zhop dennad zhwalie. at. night 1 S. ERG answer gave yard watch dog. ERG “At night, I keep watch over [his] yard, ” answered the dog. (Preceding context: “Dog, you are so fat, but I will probably die, not finding anything to eat, even though I diligently seek. Something to eat, from where do you find it? ” asked the wolf. “Me, the man feeds, ” said the dog. ”) (Migunov text) Chechen & Ingush 32 / 44

Ingush Data: A discourse explanation: Post-verbal position in main clauses is the default for topical actors C. Maintaining an already activated topical actor (10) Jurta jistie qa’chacha, village. GEN edge. to having. arrived ‘Arriving at the village, ’ zhwalie joashajenna foart bwargajainai berza. dog. GEN shaved neck eye. saw wolf. ERG ‘the wolf noticed the shaved neck of the dog. ’ “Zhwalii, cy foarta fy dead? ” xeattaad cuo. dog such neck. Erg what made asked 3 Sg. Erg ‘”Dog, what has made your neck to be like this [Lit. what has your neck done to be such’]? ” asked it [the wolf]. ’ (Migunov text) Chechen & Ingush 33 / 44

Ingush Data: A discourse explanation: Post-verbal position in main clauses is the default for topical actors C. Maintaining an already activated topical actor (11) My eardagh bolx by hwo, EMPH burdensome matter B. be. PRS 2 Sg. Nom eannad cuo said 3 S. ERG What a difficult dilemma this is ('you are'), he (Gheaza) says. Fynnagh dalie=‘a, laamaz dynza mycha voal shie! whatever D. be. CVirr=& prayer NEG V. go 3 S. RFL D. do. NEG. PPL eanna meazhdiga=chy chy-veanna laamaz dead cuo say. CVant mosque. GEN=in prayer did 3 S. ERG in-V. go. Cvant No matter what, I have to go pray, he said, and went to the mosque and prayed. Laamaz dea vealcha chy=vaxaav yz prayer D. LV. Cvant V. finish. Cvtemp in=V. go. NW. V 3 Sg. Nom He finished his prayers and went home. (From Nichols, 757) Chechen & Ingush 34 / 44

Contents 1. Introduction… 2. Chechen a) Hypotheses b) Corpus research 3. Ingush a) Hypotheses b) Data c) Departures from the default 4. Discussion a) Structural difference b) Future work Chechen & Ingush 35 / 44

Departures from the default A. If a topical actor is contrasted or otherwise emphasized, it occurs in the beginning of the clause/sentence (12) Zhwalii, Dog hwo my dersta dy, 2 S. NOM EMPH fat are ‘Dog, you are so fat, so-m jala 1 S. NOM-EMPH die my _joallii, be. found+Common. knowledge but I, obviously, will die, daggara liexxashehwa, da’a hama cy koradezh diligently seek+although eat finding. thing not although I diligently seek, I do not find anything to eat. ’ (Parallel emphasis: you: fat, I: die from hunger) (Migunov text) Chechen & Ingush 36 / 44

Departures from the default A. If a topical actor is contrasted or otherwise emphasized, it occurs in the beginning of the clause/sentence (13) «So 1 S. NOM saguo qoab, » eannad zhwalie. man. ERG feeds said dog. ERG ‘Me, the man feeds / I [unlike you] am fed by the man, » said the dog. (Contrastive emphasis) (Migunov text) Chechen & Ingush 37 / 44

Departures from the default B. Props and minor participants occur in preverbal position in main clauses (15) Dwaqaikadead cuo: "Diina mel dola hama uqazara declared 3 S. ERG living all being thing from. here deanna dwagholda, uq mettie joqqa c’i jargja. ” going. out go. away. IMP in. place big will. be this fire ‘He [Solomon] declared, “All living things are to go away from here, in this place there will be a big fire Sa doallazh mel xynna hama dwadaxa xynnad. breath/soul being. located. in all was thing going. out were ‘So all things in which there was breath were going away. ’ C’i tiexai. fire hit/struck ‘The fire was ignited. ’ [Here the fire that burns away weeds and manure from the earth is just a prop, and all the living creatures are an non-individuated mass. The key characters are the prophet Solomon and a snake that refuses to abandon the land of its fathers. ] Chechen & Ingush 38 / 44

Departures from the default C. Questions may be verb final or exhibit postposed topical actors (16) Wa cunna fy du? 2 S. ERG 3 S. DAT what do? ‘What do you do for him? ’ (17) So 1 S. NOM qoabargja cuo, wa dier aaz dicha? will. feed+Q 3 S. ERG 2 S. ERG done 1 S. ERG having. done ‘Will he feed me, if I do what you have done. ’ Chechen & Ingush 39 / 44

Contents 1. Introduction… 2. Chechen a) Hypotheses b) Corpus research 3. Ingush a) Hypotheses b) Data c) Departures from the default 4. Discussion a) Structural difference b) Future work Chechen & Ingush 40 / 44

Structural difference 1. Chechen & Ingush a) Sub clause: strictly SOV 2. Chechen (main clauses) a) Default: S-O-Vfin b) VS occurs: § § § Reported speech (“…” - said he) Presentational focus (New nominal subject) Tighten connection with context (cohesion) 3. Ingush (main clauses) a) Default: (Frame Setter) – (X) – (Focus) – Vfin – Topical. Actor b) SV occurs: § § § Topical actor: focus or contrast Mention of minor prop Some WH-questions Chechen & Ingush 41 / 44

Contents 1. Introduction… 2. Chechen a) Hypotheses b) Corpus research 3. Ingush a) Hypotheses b) Data c) Departures from the default 4. Discussion a) Structural difference b) Future work Chechen & Ingush 42 / 44

Future work 1. Chechen a) Hypotheses b) Corpus research 2. Ingush a) Expand text corpus b) Add expository discourse Chechen & Ingush 43 / 44

Questions Chechen & Ingush 44 / 44

Chechen: corpus research 4. Post-verbal pronominal subjects (5) (My grandmother had come all the way to pick me. I started out towards her…) [O Hoora ajsa jooqqu ghulch], [NP xolchu huottarna], each 1 s. ERG dragging step difficult position. DAT [PPL iehwana vaaga a voogush], jooqqura as shame. DAT burn & burning dragged 1 s. ERG I dragged every step, burning for shame. Arsanukaev 1 -2012: 115 each step I took for being in this awkward position burning for shame dragged I Chechen & Ingush 45 / 44

Chechen: corpus research 4. Post-verbal pronominal subjects (6) (It was so nice in the Dzhalki forest. We played until we got bored, bathed in the brooks, and then returned to the railway station, having in mind to return to the village Ustrada in the same way as we had come here, by getting hold of the carriage's stairs. ) [Adv. P K’ad a=della], [Adv. P mac a=della], [PP c’erposht socuchu majdanahw tired &=become hungry &=become railway stopping. REL square. LOC dolchu daqqiichu ghantash t’iehw], waara txo being. OBL large. OBL chairs on sat 1 p. EXC. ERG Tired and hungry, we sat down on the large chairs that stood on the square where the train would stop. Arsanukaev 1 -2012: 107 having become tired having become hungry on the large chairs that stood on the square where the train would stop sat we Chechen & Ingush 46 / 44