Examine the data that follow (slightly adapted from Van Valin 1985) from Lakhota (a native American language, specifically a Siouan language of South Dakota, Montana and Manitoba) and answer questions...

Examine the data that follow (slightly adapted from Van Valin 1985) from Lakhota (a native American language, specifically a Siouan language of South Dakota, Montana and Manitoba) and answer questions (i) through (iv).

1. 
   

   Which argument(s) of the verb, if any, does the verb agree with?

   
   


2. 
   

   How is agreement rcross-referencing) indicated in Lakhota?

   
   


3. 
   

   Usingthedatain(1)through(3)ascomparison,trytofigureoutwhy(4)and (5) are grammatical, but (6) is ungrammatical. The notation ‘p’ indicates that the Lakhota form is not a possible way of translating the English sentence given.

   
   


4. 
   

   In light of your answer to (iii), why do you think (7) is ungrammatical? What generalization can be made about the grammatical vs. ungrammatical examples?

   
   

(1)wic?ha´s?a ki matho´ wa?Ø-Ø-kte´
man the bear a 3sg.obj-3sg.su-kill ‘The man killed a bear.’

(2)matho´ wa?wic?ha´s?a ki Ø-Ø-kte´
bear a man the 3sg.obj-3sg.su-kill ‘A bear killed the man.’

1. 
   

   (3) wic?ha´s?a ki matho´ o´ta man the bear many ‘The man killed many bears.’

   
   


2. 
   

   (4) wic?ha´s?a ki ix?e´ o´ta
   man the rock many 3sg.Su-see

   
   

‘The man saw many rocks.’

wic?ha´-Ø-kte´ 3pl.obj-3sg.su-kill

(5)

1. 
   

   wic?ha´s?a ki matho´ o´ta man the bear many ‘The man saw many bears.’

   
   


2. 
   

   (6) *wic?ha´s?a ki ix?e´ o´ta
   man the rock many 3pl.obj-3sg.su-see (p‘The man saw many rocks.’)

   
   


3. 
   

   (7) *ix?e´ ki hena´ hoks?i´la wa?Ø-pi-pha´
   rock the those boy a 3sg.obj-3pl.su-hit (p‘Those rocks hit a boy.’)