[{"id":938,"title":"Problems in Erzya subject-object-conjugation ambiguity","sha":"fc0d9c8d50420092baf48a1b72109203","user_id":null,"state":"published","body":"The Mordvin languages, Erzya and Moksha, are known for their subject and subject-object marking. The cellular structure and usage in the sibling languages diverge. Here, I discribe phenomena in Erzya.\r\nThe subject-object marking in Erzya involves ambiguity and non-ambiguity for 28 non-reflexive relations.\r\nIn the non-past indicatitve, these relations are represented by 15 formatives that can be divided into groups of ten non-ambiguous, 3 two-way ambiguous, and two six-way ambiguous formatives.\r\n\r\nNon-ambiguity comprises pairs of specific singular arguments and singular subjects with third person plural objects.\r\nPlural subjects with third-person objects are two-way ambiguous.\r\nThe remainder comprises two sets of six-way-ambiguous formatives.\r\n\r\nActually, the last set represents seven-way ambiguity, as the third-person-plural form represents an indefinite actor singular or plural. \r\nThus an example:\r\n«Molʲan lučše vastomot karman, štobu kijak avolʲidʲizʲ nʲejtʲ.» 'Better yet, I'll go and meet you[sg], so that nobody[sg] will see you[sg].'\r\nProblem: the indefinite pronoun (kijak[sg] 'anybody') has a plural counterpart (kitʲkak), and yet the non-specific, indefinite singular is referenced in the subject marking as third person plural. There is an overlap of formatives in four cells. \r\nQuestions: Should multiambiguity be seen as default object conjugation marking, and how is the plural indefinite prounoun used?","created_at":"2022-05-02T09:59:53.773Z","updated_at":"2023-09-03T18:11:57.492Z","zenodo_id":6643877,"doi":"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6643877","subject":null,"tags":["erzya language","uralic languages","verbal conjugation","object marking","ambiguity","finite-state morphology","linguistics"],"vote_count":1,"view_count":1,"score":1.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":false,"attachment_file_name":null,"attachment_content_type":null,"attachment_file_size":null,"attachment_updated_at":null}]