Alignment systems and passive-antipassive distribution in nilotic languages

Abstract

This paper discusses the occurrence of passive and antipassive constructions in Nilotic languages in relation to the question of whether Nilotic languages developed from an ergative-absolutive to a nominativeaccusative case marking system or vice versa. This is a question based on Dixon’s (1994) claim that the re-interpretation of the passive can change a language from a nominative-accusative to an ergative-absolutive status (see pp. 187-192), or that the re-interpretation of the antipassive can alter a language from an ergative-absolutive to a nominative-accusative status (see pp. 193-203). To address the question, the paper uses data from Western, Southern, and Eastern Nilotic languages. The data show that Nilotic languages display mixed-alignment systems and that the distribution of passive and antipassive constructions does not provide any conclusive answer about the origin of Nilotic languages. However, based on the observation that Southern Nilotic languages have a marked-nominative alignment system, which is a hybrid between ergative-absolutive and nominative-accusative systems, and that some of the languages illustrated with display residues of ergativity (in particular, the mixed Sa-So alignment in passive constructions in Southern Nilotic), the paper comes to the tentative conclusion that Nilotic has an ergative-absolutive origin.