Formalizing point-of-view: the role of sentience in Blackfoot's direct/inverse system
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2005
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Abstract
Obviation and direct/inverse in the Algonquian languages are typically assumed to work together as a single concerted system, both marking the same type of discourse prominence. This thesis challenges this assumption through an investigation of the direct/inverse system of Blackfoot, a Plains Algonquian language spoken in Southern Alberta and Northwestern Montana. I argue that sentience, or real-world animacy, is the determinant factor in Blackfoot's direct/inverse, and that obviation is tangential to this system. The fundamental role of sentience in Blackfoot's direct/inverse is explored from both a syntactic and a pragmatic perspective. A syntactic treatment is proposed in which a feature [Sentient] is checked in a functional projection that determines direct and inverse marking. With respect to its pragmatic content, I argue that this functional projection is a Point-of-View Phrase, and that direct/inverse m Blackfoot grammaticalizes the pragmatic notion of point-of-view.
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Bibliography: p. 111-118
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Bliss, H. (2005). Formalizing point-of-view: the role of sentience in Blackfoot's direct/inverse system (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/2496