Conditional Indexing
This thesis investigates conditional indexing in argument marking systems from a typological perspective, as well as providing a case study on Kamang, an endangered Alor-Pantar language of Indonesia. Conditional indexing – a type of Differential Argument Marking – is a system in which a particular argument is indexed (i.e., marked on the verb), not indexed, or indexed differently under certain conditions.
The typological study shows that conditional indexing of core argument roles S, A, and P is widespread, and that systems are frequently multifactorial. Different condition profiles are found for each role: TAMEP (tense, aspect, mood, evidentiality, polarity) is more frequent for S and A compared to P, and verb class is more frequent for S and P compared to A. Referential conditions (person/number, animacy, discourse status) are common in all roles, and higher referentiality correlates with greater likelihood of overt indexing compared to zero indexing.
Two case studies investigate conditional indexing in Kamang, which indexes S and P via several prefix paradigms or zero indexing. A quantitative discourse study explores referential conditions, including animacy and topicality, revealing different preferences for different prefixes. A qualitative study focuses on the event-semantic conditioning of one of the prefix paradigms. This prefix occurs in elaboration constructions, which shift the viewpoint to the middle and end of an event, and share properties with middle and resultative constructions in other languages. Each study contributes to an enhanced understanding of Kamang’s multifactorial conditional-indexing system, in which lexical restrictions play a major role.
