Browsing by Author "Ben Si Said, Samir"

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    Flexible word order in Taqbaylit How much do syntax and discourse do?
    (2019) Ben Si Said, Samir; Belkadi, Aicha
    Cross-linguistic variations in word order flexibility are often explained in terms of (non-) configurationality. A language is considered to be configurational if it follows a strict word order, fixed by the syntactic functions of core arguments, or discourse/non-configurational if it has a relatively free word order, governed by discourse (Hale 1983, E. Kiss 1995, Baker 1996, Nordlinger 1998, Austin & Bresnan 2001). Present a fraction of our current research on the syntax of the nominal state alternation ─ Construct/annexed vs. Free States ─ in Taqbaylit, a Berber (Afro-Asiatic) language spoken (primarily) in the Kabylie region of Northern Algeria. After König (2007) and Akadiev (2015), we analyse the state alternation as a case alternation following a marked nominative pattern. Marked nominative is quite rare typologically and seems to be found only in a few African languages in East Africa (König 2007). Languages with marked nominative case share some properties; e.g. V first and do not mark case in pre-verbal positions.