
Developing the feature inventory of the inherent cases
Author(s) -
Jane Middleton
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
glossa
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2397-1835
DOI - 10.5334/gjgl.933
Subject(s) - computer science , occam , feature (linguistics) , syncretism (linguistics) , locative case , linguistics , natural language processing , programming language , philosophy
In this squib I propose a modification to Radkevich’s (2010) analysis of the locative cases, such that the privative features [source] and [goal] replace Radkevich’s binary features [±motion] and [±source]. I argue that these changes improve Radkevich’s analysis in three ways. The first improvement is empirical; they allow her system to account for the data of Kunimaipa, a language spoken in Papua New Guinea, which it presently cannot account for. The second improvement is also empirical; the analysis now predicts the absence of the unattested Ablative-Allative syncretism, which is not explained by alternative analyses. The final improvement is theoretical; a system employing privative features is to be preferred over one with binary features, because it is simpler (Occam’s razor).