Verb Agreement and Case Marking in Burushaski

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, Volume 40, 1996. — 72 p.Burushaski verb agreement and case marking phenomena are complex and have notbeen described adequately by any current theory of syntax. In particular, no explanationhas yet been given as to why a variety of nominals can trigger agreement in the verbalprefix. In some cases the apparent subject triggers this agreement, in others the directobject appears to do so, in others the indirect object, in others the possessor of the directobject, in others a benefactive or source nominal. Also, the constraints on the usage ofergative, absolutive and oblique case, and other indicators of grammatical relations onnominals, have been insufficiently characterized in the literature on Burushaski. In thispaper I propose an account of these facts, and several others relating to Burushaskiclause structure, within the framework of Relational Grammar.