sum object affixes dear linguists time come post summary based replies query posted weeks ago summary rather long following structure 1 original query 2 acknowledgement respondents 3 discussion languages 4 general discussion 5 refs 6 outline relevant details roviana 7 summary 1 query studying roviana western oceanic lg pronominal object suffixes occur verb indexing person number etc however affixes verb would correspond ubject however might construe concept dixon 1994 claims lgs object affixes lack subject affixes anybody else know counterexamples 2 acknowledgements thanks following people listed particular order responses apologies left anyone matthew dryer karen wallace mark campana eloise jelinek leo connolly geoffrey nathan johannes heinecke malcolm ross mark mandel jaejung song first point clarification western oceanic mean branch eastern austronesian replies seemed indicate people interpreted mean western austronesian really important people replied examples languages object affixes whether languages question also affixes indicating grammatical relations matthew dryer replied following list languages object affixes subject affixes taken database mentioned language 1992 africa central khoisan nama ijoid kolokuma ijo gur bimoba east chadic kera biumandara margi mbara west chadic ngizim eurasia nax ingush avaroandi dido avar lezgic archi munda mundari se asia oceania nicobarese car nicobarese centraleastern malayopolynesian kiribatese ponapean woleaian north america pimic papago south america warao maipurean palikur able follow refs however looked micronesian languages 3 discussion languages sohn 1975 woleaian object suffixes affixes corresponding grammatical relation 3sg three forms zero w seems verbs fall two classes zero added verbs one class many whose members appear tr suffix w members class choice forms phonologically conditioned interestingly 3pl distinguishes animate vs inanimate whereas persons numbers affixes occur without overt independent object np affixes occur certain postverbal advbs suggesting might fact clitics zewen 1977 marshallese pronominal objects immediately follow verb 3sg 3pl enclitics undergo vowel harmony enclitics cooccur lexical np object subject prons independent groves groves jacobs 1985 kiribatese seems description language object suffixes affixes indicating grammatical relations however things could perhaps analyzed subject prefixes p1 08 exactly object suffixes get attached 11 classes seems lexically determined 4 general discussion would appear crosslinguistic studies object affixes per se respondents questioned whether object suffixes roviana really suffixes clitics suffixes even nt focus interest would focussing two facts roviana case marking np ergativeabsolutive basis grammatical relation indicated verbal affixes object b object affixes 3pl zero form functionally inclined interested finding motivation b simply case referentiality see brief sketch 5 refs diacritics mangled internet corston simon h 1993 ergativity roviana thesis auckland university new zealand appear pacific linguistics series groves terab ata r groves gordon w jacobs roderick 1985 kiribatese outline description pacific linguistics series 64 anu printing service anu sohn ho min assistance tawerilmang anthony f 1975 woleian reference grammar pacific asian languages institute micronesia honoloulu university press hawaii zewen francois xavier n 1977 marshallese language study phonology morphology syntax veroffentlichungen des seminars fur indonesische und sudseesprachen der universitat hamburg band 10 berlin verlag 6 outline relevant details roviana following brief description roviana based field work corston 1993 case marking np split ergative typologically unusual way absolutive marked si se ergative unmarked pronouns proper np enumerated np main clauses distinguish erg vs abs means special particles np neutral ie formally distinguish well using special particles prons distinguish erg vs abs form pron always specific person object suffix 1sg u au 2sg xo 3sg 1pl incl xita 1pl excl xami 2pl xamu 3pl 0 zero affixes similar various indep pronouns e g compare rau 1sg xoi 2sg xita 1pl incl xami 1pl excl xamu 2pl asa 3sg abs sa 3sg erg sarini 3pl abs ri 3pl erg quite story sarini historically see np get affixes e g meke doxori ri si keke ixana see tr3sg abs one fish erg saw fish animals 034 paper writing clarifies put erg parentheses really unmarked infer context pron erg particle kote arina tie mae magui 0 sarini fut pl man come carve tr3pl 3pl abs men come carve feast 016 pigs feast nb pron sarini however get affixes even overt np suggesting independent reference e g ai luli u mo intj follow tr1sg dt hey follow animals 011 following longer example e saimone sa tie hehegere hoirana pers simon def man dup laugh simon man laughing avosi xoi hear tr3sg erg hear day 029030 note suffixes index absolutive etc see roviana case marked quantified np case erg abs obl etc indicated articles np quantifiers numbers ome etc precede head n non specific undergoers obligatorily occur backgrounded object construction compare following two examples raro talo si gami cook taro abs 1pl excl cooked taro taro cooking difficult say talo incorporated since indep elements assoc verb ever come note backgrounded constr intr transitive marking actor compare usual order vao raroa gami sa talo cook 3sg 1pl excl def taro cooked taro undergoers pragmatically backgrounded also occur backgrounded object construction irrespective whether referential 7 summary languages object affixes lack affixes indicating grammatical relations occur would appear uncommon feel 3pl zero form unusual unable find crosslinguistic study bear even zero form requires functional explanation cf du bois john w 1987 absolutive zero paradigm adaptivity sacapultec maya lingua 71 203222 thanks replied ps draft paper featuredness core arguments roviana available shortly simon corston corston humanitas ucsb edu