Ergative as Perfective Oblique

Ergative systems often exhibit splits in alignment. • Such splits are often based on viewpoint aspect (Silverstein, 1976; Moravcsik, 1978; Dixon, 1979). • The direction of aspectual splits is consistent across languages: – Perfective (and perfect) aspect is associated with ergative alignment. – Imperfective (or progressive) aspect is associated with “nominative” alignment. • This defines a hierarchy along which different languages make splits at different points: ERG/ABS alignment ←− −→ NOM/ACC alignment PERFECT , PFV ≫ IMPF ≫ PROG ↑ ↑ Hindi Basque Chol The puzzle: What accounts for the existence of aspectual splits, and for their consistent direction? Two broad families of (syntactic) explanations: 1. The imperfective is special (Laka, 2006; Coon, 2010, 2013a) • Ergative alignment is an independent property of a language’s case and/or agreement system. • This alignment surfaces undisrupted in the perfective. • The structure of imperfective syntax is such that (in some languages) it disrupts ergative alignment. 2. The perfective is special (Mahajan, 1997; Anand and Nevins, 2006) • The basic alignment of languages with aspectual splits is accusative (or at least not ergative). ∗This work has benefitted enormously from conversations with many people over several years. I would like to especially thank Elizabeth Cowper, Claire Halpert, Sabine Iatridou, Alana Johns, Omer Preminger, David Pesetsky, and Nicholas Welch for suggestions and discussion. This work has been supported in part by the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship program, administered by the Government of Canada.