The Distribution of Accusative Subjects in Manchu: a Corpus-based Study
The Distribution of Accusative Subjects in Manchu: a Corpus-based Study

Summary/Abstract: Hayata (2011) proposed that accusative subject in Manchu arises when an embedded subject is not co-referential with the subject of the main clause in embedded clauses. However, co-referentiality cannot fully explain the distribution of accusative subjects in Manchu (Do 2018). In this paper, we argue that the overtness of the main clause subject is another factor that governs the distribution of case markings on embedded subjects; nominative marking (on the embedded subjects) mostly guarantees the covertness of the main class subjects. We further argue that the interplay between the two factors can explain the distribution of case marking in embedded subjects in Manchu.

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