Typology of Case-marking and Agreement Systems in Bashāgardi

Abstract

Based on linguistic typology approach and after analyzing the case-marking and agreement systems in (North and South) Bashāgardi according to Comrie (1978) and precise evaluation of findings according to the new theory of Zwart and Lindenbergh (2021), the present study aims to achieve a deeper explanation for those two systems’ function as well as the general alignment pattern of this dialect. In this regard, the research data has been gathered by interviewing ten native speakers, and then has been analyzed. According to the first findings, (North and South) Bashāgardi case-marking and agreement in non-past tense belong identically to the dominant and major pattern of (complete) accusative pattern, and in the past obey the dominant and shifting pattern of split-ergative or (complete) ergative pattern. Explanation of findings reveals that (North and South) Bashāgardi’s general alignment system uses the reverse and identical patterns in non-past and past tenses, respectively. Moreover, conditioned by the two categories of transitivity and tense, as the mirrors of inter-domain interrelations, these two language varieties exploit identical recessive and shifting alignment patterns in those two tenses as well, for which the appropriate explanations has been presented.

Keywords

• bashāgardi dialect
• language typology
• case-marking system
• agreement system
• alignment pattern