Marking and Hierarchy Types and the Grammaticalization of Case-Markers

Abstract

Silverstein (1976) showed that the grammatical cases take varying kinds of case-marking according to the hierarchical value of the nominal being marked. This paper demonstrates that such hierarchical marking occurs in non-grammatical cases as well. Moreover, these cases typically take nominals of a specific hierarchical value as arguments. Analysis of the data according to classic marking theory reveals that departures from the typical pattern often take extra morphological marking. Since the new forms appear in atypical contexts, they are prone to being pragmatically reinterpreted. And the combination of marking and reinterpretation will produce new cases in the language.

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