Papers by ricardo etxepare
Basque weak quantifiers optionally agree with the inflected verb in number. This papers' main aim... more Basque weak quantifiers optionally agree with the inflected verb in number. This papers' main aim is to study the dialectal variation shown by this phenomenon. The study will show that it is necessary to differentiate at least three systems: the western-central system, the transition system, and the oriental system. The differences are twofold: (i) some concern the syntactic contexts in which the optional agreement is allowed. The western-central system allows it with every argument position; the transition system does not allow it with ergative case arguments, and the oriental system allows it only with absolutive case arguments; (ii) the rest concern the set of quantifiers that permit optional agreement: in the oriental system, weak cardinal quantifiers need not agree with the inflected verb; in the rest of the systems, agreement is obligatory in these cases. This difference appears to be related to the ability to use bare nouns within the oriental system: bare nouns show the same syntactic distribution as non-agreeing weak cardinal quantifiers. Euskarazko zenbatzaile ahulek pluraleko komunztadurarik gabe agertzeko aukera dute. Artikulu honek fenomeno horren baitan gertatzen den bariazio dialektala aztertu nahi du. Azterketa honek gutxienez hiru sistema bereizi behar ditugula erakusten du: mendebalde-erdialdekoa deituko duguna, trantsiziokoa (Lapurdiko hiztun zenbaitetan aurkitu duguna) eta ekialdekoa deitu duguna, Coyos-en (1999) Arbailetako (Zuberoa) hizkeraren azterketan oinarritua. Diferentziak bi mailatakoak direla erakutsiko dugu: (i) komunztadura eza zein kontestu sintaktikotan gertatzen den. Erdialdeko-mendebaldeko hizkerek argumentu guzietan agertzen dute; trantsiziokoak ez du ergatiboarekin agertzen, eta ekialdeko hizkerek absolutiboekin bakarrik onartzen du; (ii) fenomenoa erakusten duten zenbatzaileen multzoa bera: zubereraz, zenbatzaile kardinalek ez dute Zenbatzaileak komunztatzen ez direnean: Hiru sistema Urtzi ETXEBERRIA eta Ricardo ETXEPARE 1 CNRS-IKER URTZI ETXEBERRIA ETA RICARDO ETXEPARE zertan pluraleko komunztadura egin; beste sistemetan komunztadura ezinbestekoa da. Diferentzia hau iduriz ekialdeko hizkerek (gainontzeko hizkerek ez bezala) izen biluziak erabiltzeko duten gaitasunarekin lotzen da: izen biluziek zenbatzaile kardinal komunztaduragabeen distribuzio ia berdina erakusten dute. Gako hitzak: zenbatzaile ahulak, izen zenbakaitzak, numero komunztadura, distribuzioa, izen biluziak
Lapurdum, 2018
Lapurdum 2018 Numéro XXI Ingelesez, NZ-galdera perpausek NZ-hitzaren ezkerreratzea galdatzen dute... more Lapurdum 2018 Numéro XXI Ingelesez, NZ-galdera perpausek NZ-hitzaren ezkerreratzea galdatzen dute. Ezkerreratze hori, aspalditik datorren ikuspegiaren arabera Baker, 1970), perpausaren galderazko izaera markatzen duen tasun baten presentziarekin lotua da. Tasun hori perpausaren buru egiten duen Konplementatzaile proiekzioan gauzatua da, eta NZ-hitzaren mugidak tasun hori zilegiztatzea du helburu. Zilegiztatzea, (1a,b)-k erakusten duten bezala, edozein NZ-hitzek egin dezake. Subjektuak egiten du (1a)n, eta objektuak berriz (1b)n. Chomsky (1973:246) bere aldetik, ondokoa bezalako pare minimoei ohartu zitzaien: (2) a. Who bought what? NZ.NOM erosi.zuen NZ.AK "Nork zer erosi zuen?" b. *What did who buy? NZ.AK LAG ZER erosi "*Zer nork erosi zuen?" (2a,b) bezalako etsenpluetan oinarriturik, Chomskyk bihurketen gaineko hertsidura orokor bat proposatu zuen, ingelesez Superiority Condition deitu zuena, eta euskaraz Goragotasun baldintza deituko duguna: (3) Goragotasun baldintza (Chomsky 1973:246) Erregela batek ez ditzake X eta Y lotu ondoko egituran: …X…[α…Z…WYV…]… Baldin eta erregela hori modu anbiguoan aplikatzen bazaie Z eta Y-ri, eta Z Y baino gorago badago. Gorago egotea honela definitzen da: (4) Z kategoria Y kategoria baino gorago dago baldin eta baldin bakarrik Z-k Y o-komandatzen badu Goragotasun baldintzak galerazi egiten du zer galdera hitza perpausaren ezkerretara mugitzea (berez arazogabea dena), badelako tartean perpaus egituran gorago dagoen beste sintagma bat, nork NZ-hitza, zer o-komandatzen duena. (3)-ren arabera, nork du mugitzeko lehentasuna. Bestela esanda, NZ-hitz bat baino gehago dugunean perpausean, galdera tasunaren zilegiztatzea baldintza jakin batzuen barnean gertatzen da. Baldintza horiek lehenetsi egiten dute egitura aldetik gorago dagoen NZ-hitza. Goragotasun baldintza naturalki jalgitzen da ekonomia baldintzak obeditzen dituen sistema batetik (Kitahara, 1997: 65-68). Galdera hitzen mugida Konplementzatzaile buruan dagoen NZtasun baten zilegiztatzearekin lotua dela onartzen badugu, mugimendua "laburragoa" da nork dagoen posiziotik abiatuta, zer dagoenetik abiatuta baino. Mugimenduaren luze-laburra abiapuntutik edo helmugatik neur daiteke. Abiapuntutik begiratuta, Konplementatzaileko NZ-
Lapurdum, Oct 1, 2001
Gramatika sortzaileak bide luzea egin du honezkero gure artean, eta esan genezake egun zabalduen ... more Gramatika sortzaileak bide luzea egin du honezkero gure artean, eta esan genezake egun zabalduen den ikermoldea dela bai hemen, eta orohar, baita hemendik kanpo ere. Patxi Goenagaren Gramatika Bideetan (1980) klasikotik Artiagoitia irakasleak plazara berri duen Hatsarreak eta Parametroak honetaraino, hala ere, ez dira ugari izan (nolabait esatearren) ikermolde hedatu honen berri xehe emateko eginak izan diren liburuak. euskaraz. Sintaxiaren alorrera mugatuaz, eta Goenagarenaz aparte, Itziar Lakak itzulitako Lasnik eta Uriagerekaren GB Ikastaro Bat ezaguna eta oinarrizko zenbait gai tratatzen dituzten Goenagaren (1986) eta Salabururen (1987, 1989) aspaldiko lan bildumak besterik ez genituen. Urtetako hutsartea betetzera dator beraz, argitara berri den Hatsarreak eta Parametroak hau, eta esku ezin hobeagotik gainera : ofizioaren nekeak aspaldi probatuak eta gaiaren zokoak ondo miatuak dituen Xabier Artiagoitia, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitateko irakaslearenetik, alegia.
Romance languages and linguistic theory, 2013
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Apr 4, 2019
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Jan 18, 2021
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), Apr 1, 2009
In this talk I present a summary of the works I have published in the last years on Basque case-m... more In this talk I present a summary of the works I have published in the last years on Basque case-marking, where I make the point that there is important dialectal variation regarding this issue. Even though there are many complications in the Basque data which pose difficulties for any analysis, the main conclusion from my work is that Western Basque's case-marking should be considered semantically-aligned (i.e. split-intrans itive) instead of ergative. As for Central and Eastern Basque's case-marking, I argue that it could (still) be considered ergative, but also that it is not too different from a semantic alignment. Diachronically, it seems all dialects of Basque are evolving towards a more consistent semantic alignment, as younger generations of speakers of Central and Eastern Basque tend to use the ERG case-marker with unergative verbs.
Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 2021
This article presents the elaboration of a morphosyntactically annotated diachronic corpus of Bas... more This article presents the elaboration of a morphosyntactically annotated diachronic corpus of Basque, and the first results obtained in the processing of historical varieties of this language with computational techniques. The corpus size is around one million words, expanding from the 15th to the mid-18th century and encompassing the most significant written production in all historical dialects. Morphosyntactic tagging allows for systematic searches at different levels of complexity; additionally, a rich set of metadata enables searches based on sociohistorical criteria too. This is not only the first tagged corpus of historical Basque but also a means to improve language processing tools by analyzing historical varieties more or less distant from the present-day standard language. Moreover, this project aims to set a model for further works in the historical corpora of Basque and inform similar projects on other languages.
This paper analyses the challenge of working with dialectal variation when semi-automatically nor... more This paper analyses the challenge of working with dialectal variation when semi-automatically normalising and analysing historical Basque texts. This work is part of a more general ongoing project for the construction of a morphosyntactically annotated historical corpus of Basque called Basque in the Making (BIM): A Historical Look at a European Language Isolate, whose main objective is the systematic and diachronic study of a number of grammatical features. This will be not only the first tagged corpus of historical Basque, but also a means to improve language processing tools by analysing historical Basque varieties more or less distant from present-day standard Basque.
Language faculty and beyond, Aug 30, 2016
This paper studies the syntactic distribution of the Basque hearsay evidential omen across Basque... more This paper studies the syntactic distribution of the Basque hearsay evidential omen across Basque dialects. We test the hypothesis that the complex dialectal variation regarding the syntactic distribution exhibited by omen follows from a basic syntactic microparameter: in central varieties the features that constitute the hearsay evidential are projected as part of the clausal spine; in Eastern varieties, those features are compiled as a separate syntactic term, merged as the Specifier of an independent Evidential Head. This microparameter accounts in a unified way for most of the differences in the syntactic distribution of the evidential. Together with this basic microparameter, the comparative study of Basque dialects seems to support the idea that certain functional projections (like NegP, FocP or EvP) may appear in more than one position in the cartography of the clause, and more specifically, at the edge of cyclic domains.
Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 2022
This article presents the elaboration of a morphosyntactically annotated diachronic corpus of Bas... more This article presents the elaboration of a morphosyntactically annotated diachronic corpus of Basque, and the first results obtained in the processing of historical varieties of this language with computational techniques. The corpus size is around one million words, expanding from the 15th to the mid-18th century and encompassing the most significant written production in all historical dialects. Morphosyntactic tagging allows for systematic searches at di!erent levels of complexity; additionally, a rich set of metadata enables searches based on sociohistorical criteria too. This is not only the first tagged corpus of historical Basque but also a means to improve language processing tools by analyzing historical varieties more or less distant from the present-day standard language. Moreover, this project aims to set a model for further works in the historical corpora of Basque and inform similar projects on other languages.
Oxford University Press eBooks, Nov 29, 2012
Datives and adpositions in NorthEastern Basque Ricardo Etxepare (IKER) and Bernard Oyharçabal(IKE... more Datives and adpositions in NorthEastern Basque Ricardo Etxepare (IKER) and Bernard Oyharçabal(IKER) 0. Introduction Many languages show a degree of overlapping between the distinct categories of adpositions and oblique cases. The use of oblique cases very frequently extends to cover semantic roles that are typically expressed by adpositions. Spatial roles, such as locations, goals of motion or sources are a case in point. A common approach to this general phenomenon assimilates dative case-suffixes to adpositions, and specifies in the lexicon the relation between particular spatial roles and the two types of entities. In northeastern varieties of Basque, datives can express spatial roles, such as targets of motion or locations. Basque is a particularly intriguing case of overlap, in the sense that its dative case-suffix behaves as a bona fide case marker outside the spatial cases, on the same level as absolutive and ergative cases, triggering agreement with the auxiliary and showing behaviour typical of DPs. We will argue that the spatial dative cases in northeastern Basque are not different from what we see in canonical dative DPs: they are case suffixes, attached to nominal phrases, and expressing purely syntactic relations. The only difference being that the kind of functional support necessary to license case in verbal predicates can also be found internal to adpositional phrases, within certain conditions. Concretely, we will capitalize on recent work by Koopman (2000), Tortora (2009) and Den Dikken (2010) and argue that the spatial dative cases of northeastern Basque are licensed in an aspectual projection internal to a phrase headed by a Path adposition. The argument will require a detailed discussion of some of the aspects involved in the syntax of postpositional phrases in Basque. Crucial for the analysis of spatial datives here is the idea that lexically realized postpositions encode complex spatial properties, and that their semantic richness is a function of phrasal Spell Out, in the sense of Starke (2005, 2010): overtly realized adpositions in Basque lexicalize complex arrays of spatial features under conditions of adjacency. In the spirit of Koopman (2000) and much subsequent work, we take Place and Path adpositions to be able to project their own functional structure, in a way parallel to other lexical categories such as nouns or verbs. The lexical description for the insertion rule of overt adpositions, however, may prevent intermediate functional heads to project. Non overtly realized adpositions, on the other hand, only spell out a feature, and are insensitive to adjacency conditions. Functional projections in the complement domain of a silent adposition can project and attract embedded DPs to their Spec. The presence of spatial datives is related to the presence of an intermediate aspectual head in between the Path and the Place spatial features. From this point of view, the distribution of the spatial dative case in northeastern dialects arises as the combined outcome of two interacting factors: the presence of a null Path adposition, available in northeastern dialects, and lexicalization patterns common to all Basque varieties.
Linguamática, Jun 18, 2011
En este artículo presentamos BASYQUE, la aplicación que hemos desarrollado para el estudio de la ... more En este artículo presentamos BASYQUE, la aplicación que hemos desarrollado para el estudio de la variación sintáctica. Aunque este proyecto se centra fundamentalmente en los dialectos del País Vasco francés (Iparralde), BASYQUE es una aplicación multilingüe útil también para el análisis de otras lenguas y/o dialectos. Además de presentar las opciones que ofrece BASYQUE, abordaremos los aspectos metodológicos y los criterios que hemos seguido para realizar esta aplicación. El desarrollo de este proyecto cuenta con la colaboración del Centro IKER con sede en Bayona (Francia) y el Grupo
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2016
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2018
A Grammar of Basque, 2003
Leaving aside a small set of verbs (see 3.6.3.), Basque finite verbs are composed of an morpholog... more Leaving aside a small set of verbs (see 3.6.3.), Basque finite verbs are composed of an morphologically independent lexical verb carrying aspectual information, and a clitic auxiliary bearing Tense, Agreement and Modal affixes. The choice of auxiliaries in Basque seems to be largely dependent on the valency of the predicate. Intransitive, transitive, and ditransitive auxiliaries typically correspond to monovalent, bivalent and trivalent predicates. The arguments of the verb (participants in the event, such as agents, themes or patients, and beneficiaries) are mapped systematically by person and number morphology corresponding to grammatical functions such as subject, object and indirect object. Changes in the argument structure of the verb (as in the causative/inchoative alternation) are also signaled in the choice of the auxiliary. However, in some cases the correlation between valency and choice of auxiliary does not, or does not seem to obtain. The mismatch between valency and morphology is due in these cases to the contribution of an aspectual dimension (Grimshaw,90) (see section 1.3). In order to maintain the two domains clear (lexical structure and morphology), I will refer to the valency of the verb with categories such as monovalent, bivalent or trivalent (see Hualde, section 3.6.3 in this book), and to its morphological expression with categories such as intransitive and transitive. The latter are familiar from the structural analysis of basic verbal paradigms (Hualde, in section 3.6.3.) and are based on the presence/absence of ergative morphology. When ergative morphology is present in the paradigm corresponding to a finite form, I will refer to that form as transitive. Otherwise, I will refer to that form as intransitive. 1.1. Case and Agreement patterns Basque is an ergative language in both its case marking system and in its verbal morphology (with splits depending on Tense, see Hualde, section 3.6.3). That is, a language where subjects of intransitive verbs and objects of transitive ones are Casemarked and cross-referenced in the agreement elements of the verb identically and differently from subjects of transitive verbs. The Case marking of transitive subjects is called ergative, that of intransitive subjects and objects of transitives, absolutive. Table 1 shows the absolutive and ergative case endings in the three numbers (singular, plural and indefinite) 1.3. Basque as an "extended" ergative language Ergative languages divide into two different Case patterns. One, exemplified by Dyirbal or Samoan, marks all subjects of intransitive verbs identically, irrespective of the aspectual or agentive properties of the verb or the agentive properties of the single argument. Another one, exemplified by Basque and Georgian, among other ergative languages, marks some subjects of intransitives as objects of transitives (that is, absolutive), and some others as subjects of transitive verbs (with the ergative Case). A pattern that Dixon (1979,1994) calls "extended ergative". This split case marking pattern depends apparently on the aspectual properties of the verb, particularly on whether it is telic or not (see section 4.1. for a discussion on Basque; and Lyell, 1995, p.120-123 for Georgian). In this, Basque seems to express morphologically a distinction that has been noted syntactically in other languages between unaccusative and unergative predicates (Perlmutter, 1978; Burzio, 1981). Subjects of unergative predicates take the ergative Case, subjects of unaccusative predicates take the absolutive Case. In accord with Case marking, unergative predicates take the transitive auxiliary, and unaccusative predicates the intransitive one: (iii) a. Jonek ardoa ekarri du Jon-erg wine-abs bring-partc Aux-T 'Jon brought the wine' b. Jonek saltatu du Jon-erg jump-partc Aux-T 'Jon jumped' c. Jon etorri da 'Jon came' Heldu also means "to ripen, to mature". See next section.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2020
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Papers by ricardo etxepare