ALIGNMENT SYSTEMS AND PASSIVE-ANTIPASSIVE DISTRIBUTION IN NILOTIC LANGUAGES

Abstract

This paper discusses the occurrence of passive and antipassive
constructions in Nilotic languages in relation to the question of whether
Nilotic languages developed from an ergative-absolutive to a nominativeaccusative case marking system or vice versa. This is a question based on
Dixon’s (1994) claim that the re-interpretation of the passive can change a
language from a nominative-accusative to an ergative-absolutive status
(see pp. 187-192), or that the re-interpretation of the antipassive can alter
a language from an ergative-absolutive to a nominative-accusative status
(see pp. 193-203). To address the question, the paper uses data from
Western, Southern, and Eastern Nilotic languages. The data show that
Nilotic languages display mixed-alignment systems and that the
distribution of passive and antipassive constructions does not provide any
conclusive answer about the origin of Nilotic languages. However, based on
the observation that Southern Nilotic languages have a marked-nominative
alignment system, which is a hybrid between ergative-absolutive and
nominative-accusative systems, and that some of the languages illustrated
with display residues of ergativity (in particular, the mixed Sa-So alignment
in passive constructions in Southern Nilotic), the paper comes to the
tentative conclusion that Nilotic has an ergative-absolutive origin.