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Ergative marking system in Changki

  • Sh. Francis Monsang EMAIL logo and I. Amenla Changkija
Published/Copyright: August 25, 2025

Abstract

This study examines the ergative marking system in Changki, a dialect of the Ao language of Nagaland, India. Changki exhibits an ergative-absolutive pattern but is not strictly an ergative-absolutive language. The ergative marker -nə́ on A arguments of transitive verbs is obligatory in some constructions, while it is non-obligatory in others. The primary goal is to examine the factors determining obligatory and non-obligatory ergative marking and their functions in Changki. The study shows that animacy, discourse-pragmatic factors, and high agency verbs determine the ergative marking. Furthermore, ergative may also appear with S arguments of unergative verbs if the action is performed deliberately or purposely, but not with S arguments of unaccusative verbs. The use of ergative has multiple functions, such as providing agency to the inanimate subjects, focusing the agent/actor in a discourse, and highlighting the agency of the agent. This study will enhance the understanding of non-obligatory ergative systems in Naga, in particular, and Tibeto-Burman languages as a whole.


Corresponding author: Sh. Francis Monsang, Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, 208016, India, E-mail:

Abbreviations included in the Leipzig Glossing Rules

1sg

first person singular

3sg

third person singular

all

allative

cop

copula

dat

dative

decl

declarative

def

definite

erg

ergative

f

feminine

fut

future

ins

instrumental

m

masculine

pfv

perfective

pl

plural

prog

progressive

prs

present

pst

past

Abbreviations not included in the Leipzig Glossing Rules

1a

first person subject agreement marker

2a

second person subject agreement marker

2p

second person object agreement marker

3a

third person subject agreement marker

abs

absolutive case

agt

agentive case

ant

anterior tense/aspect

dim

diminutive suffix

disjunct

disjunct

evidential

evidential

hab

habitual

impf

imperfective

impfv

imperfective aspect

nr

nominalizer/relativizer suffix

nrl

non-relational prefix

obj

object marker

perf

perfective

rpet

repetitive aspect

seq

sequential converb suffix

sim

simultaneous converb suffix

temp.cv

temporal converb suffix

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments and suggestions. Any errors are solely our responsibility.

  1. Research ethics: NA.

  2. Informed consent: NA.

  3. Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  4. Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.

  5. Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.

  6. Research funding: None declared.

  7. Data availability: Not applicable.

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Received: 2025-02-12
Accepted: 2025-07-15
Published Online: 2025-08-25
Published in Print: 2025-09-25

© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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