What is it about?
The relevant languages have a direct-inverse system, where for example 'I saw him' is 1Sg-3Sg-see-Past while 'He saw me' is 1Sg-Inv-3Sg-see-Past. The inverse marker is crucial since it shows which pronoun is subject and which is object. When this system was on the brink of collapse due to phonetic change, it was quickly repaired by replacing the old inverse morpheme with a new one.
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Why is it important?
Shows how complex morphological systems repair themselves, keeping the old structure going with new material.
Perspectives
Adds to the argument that grammatical change in morphologically complex language often takes the form of repair of an incumbent system.
Jeffrey Heath
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Lost Wax, Diachronica, January 1997, John Benjamins,
DOI: 10.1075/dia.14.2.02hea.
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