Some agreement phenomena in Stoney

Abstract

Stoney, like other Dakota Siouan languages, manifests complex subject and object agreement in the verb. This thesis reviews the general features of such agreement. First for subject, and then for various objects, data are presented to show what triggers agreement, followed by the verb morphology with agreement. A 3-1-2 person affix hierarchy is determined, and argument is made for the existence of certain surface structure identity constraints affecting the number of agreement affixes permissible for a given verb. The thesis concludes with a discussion of three causes for ambiguity in pronominal reference: (1) Pronoun Deletion, (2) subject/object-insensitive affix ordering, and (3) the Plural Identity Constraint. Examples are cited to illustrate the degree to which ambiguity can exist. This thesis follows a generative model. In so doing, it attempts to explore the advantages of positing underlying structures to arrive at solutions for the problem of agreement ambiguity.