| This thesis examines the phenomenon of split ergativity in Davani, an endangered Iranian language spoken in southern Iran. The research is based on original field work. The complex ergative agreement system in Davani distinguishes between agents and objects in the past tense, with the affectedness status of the object also being a factor in the agreement patterning. A Minimalist analysis is proposed to account for the complex case-agreement patterns, in which absolutive is argued to be nominative, and ergative is an inherent case, assigned by v when selected by a past tense inflection.;Davani clitics are argued to be the realization of phi-features on a functional head rather than doubled clitics. In addition, the case patterns of psych verbs are explored in three different verb classes. In the analysis of these verbs, experiencers are shown to be internal to VP, either merged in the spec of VP or as a sister to V. It is argued that the ergative marking on experiencers come from VPsych. Finally, an analysis of complex predicates and their interaction in Davani is presented in this thesis. The claim is that Davani complex predicates formed from a N+V are better analyzed as (partially) incorporated units rather than a combination of N+V. It is further argued that these units have a dual nature, in that they show properties of both syntactic and lexical units. Ergative agreement is used as a diagnostic to show that the nominal element of complex predicates is best analyzed as a non-specific object. This is based on the key assumption that the presence of an ergative marker depends on the presence of an object. The implications of Davani case for the structure of other complex predicates is also explored. |
