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Tlingit
Glottocode: tlin1245
Genalogical classification: Tlingit-Eyak-Athabaskan
Original alignment pattern: Nominative
Source construction: Transitive constructions with verbal indexing arranged following a nominative-accusative pattern: A and S are indexed in the same way, while P requires a dedicated index, as in (1) - (3).
Developmental mechanism: Transitive constructions with non-overt third person A, as in (1), are reanalyzed as intransitive constructions, and the original P index is consequently reanalyzed as an S index. The process may have also been influenced by contact with the neighboring Haida language.
Resulting construction: Intransitive constructions with P-like indexing of S, as in (4).
Type of change: Reinterpretation of argument structure
Alignment in the resulting construction: Ergative-Absolutive
Global alignment pattern following the change: Split intransitivity
Constraints on the distribution of the resulting alignment: Split in the marking of S participants, some pattern like P of transitive verbs, as in (3) and (4), some like A of transitive verbs, as in (1) and (2).
Grammatical domains: Verbal indexation
Symmetry: Symmetric
Type of data: Internal reconstruction
References: Mithun 2008:313-324
Examples
(1) Tlingit (Tlingit-Eyak-Athabaskan; Mithun 2008:314)
| x̣a-łayé:x̣ |
| 1SG.A-make |
‘I’m making it’
(2) Tlingit (Tlingit-Eyak-Athabaskan; Mithun 2008:313)
| ÿa‘n-x̣a-gúd |
| along-1SG.A-walk |
‘I am walking along’
(3) Tlingit (Tlingit-Eyak-Athabaskan; Mithun 2008:314)
| x̣ad-wusiti‘n |
| 1SG.P-see.PAST |
'she saw me’
(4) Tlingit (Tlingit-Eyak-Athabaskan; Mithun 2008:314)
| x̣ad-kawdusasáÿ |
| 1SG.P-be.hot |
‘I’m hot’