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On Ergativity and Accusativity in Proto-Polynesian and Proto-Central Pacific
- Oceanic Linguistics
- University of Hawai'i Press
- Volume 46, Number 1, June 2007
- pp. 128-153
- 10.1353/ol.2007.0014
- Article
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This paper continues the debate begun over three decades ago about the nature of the case-marking system of Proto-Polynesian, whether it possessed an ergative or an accusative system. After consideration of extra-Polynesian comparative evidence, putative counterexamples in some Polynesian pronominal systems, and the history of the current accusative marking, it finds in favor of the accusative system view.