Documentation

Linglib.Core.Prominence

Prominence Scales and Differential Argument Marking @cite{just-2024} @cite{haspelmath-2021} #

@cite{aissen-2003} @cite{haspelmath-2019}

Framework-agnostic prominence hierarchies for referential properties. These scales underlie both differential flagging (case marking: DOM, DSM) and differential indexing (verbal agreement), as argued by @cite{just-2024} and building on @cite{aissen-2003}.

Scales #

Three independently motivated prominence hierarchies:

These are the same scales for all argument roles (A, P, R, T), but the polarity of differential marking depends on argument role:

Argument Roles (@cite{haspelmath-2021}, §2–5) #

Five roles span monotransitive and ditransitive clauses:

Marking Channels #

Differential argument marking has two independent realization channels:

These serve different functions — flagging disambiguates roles, indexing tracks referents through discourse — but both are governed by the same prominence scales.

Levels of the animacy prominence scale. Human > Animate > Inanimate.

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      Numeric rank on the animacy scale: Human (2) > Animate (1) > Inanimate (0).

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        Fine-grained animacy hierarchy for nominal plural marking and agreement (@cite{smith-stark-1974}, @cite{corbett-2000}).

        Languages mark plural on nouns according to an implicational scale:

        speaker > addressee > 3rd person > kin > human > higher animals > lower animals > discrete inanimates > nondiscrete inanimates

        If a language marks plural at a given point on the scale, it marks plural at all higher points. This refines the coarser AnimacyLevel (human/animate/inanimate) used for differential argument marking.

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            Coarsening is monotone: higher rank implies ≥ level.

            The hierarchy predicts: if a language marks plural at rank r, it marks plural at all ranks above r.

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              Levels of the definiteness prominence scale. Personal Pronoun > Proper Name > Definite NP > Indefinite Specific NP > Non-specific NP.

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                  All definiteness levels (exhaustive enumeration).

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                    Person prominence scale. 1st > 2nd > 3rd. SAP (speech-act participants, 1st/2nd) are more prominent than 3rd person.

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                        Argument roles spanning monotransitive and ditransitive clauses.

                        Follows @cite{comrie-1978} and @cite{haspelmath-2021} in using S/A/P/R/T (not subject/object) to avoid theory-dependent constituency assumptions.

                        Role rank determines the direction of differential marking:

                        • Higher-rank roles (A, R) default to high prominence; differential marking targets the NON-prominent end (anti-monotone / lower set).
                        • Lower-rank roles (P, T) default to low prominence; differential marking targets the PROMINENT end (monotone / upper set).
                        • S is the alignment reference point.
                        • S : ArgumentRole

                          S: sole argument of an intransitive verb

                        • A : ArgumentRole

                          A: the more agent-like argument of a transitive verb

                        • P : ArgumentRole

                          P: the more patient-like argument of a transitive verb

                        • R : ArgumentRole

                          R: the recipient-like argument of a ditransitive verb

                        • T : ArgumentRole

                          T: the theme-like argument of a ditransitive verb

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                            Role rank: A > P for monotransitives, R > T for ditransitives. S is in between. Higher rank = higher default prominence expectation.

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                              Whether this role has high default prominence (A-like). Differential marking for high-default roles targets non-prominent referents.

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                                Whether this role has low default prominence (P-like). Differential marking for low-default roles targets prominent referents.

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                                  Two independent channels for marking argument properties on verbs or NPs (@cite{haspelmath-2019}, @cite{just-2024} §2).

                                  • Flagging: morphological case on the NP (e.g., accusative suffix)
                                  • Indexing: verbal agreement / cross-referencing (e.g., Set A/B markers)

                                  These serve distinct functions: flagging disambiguates roles, indexing tracks referents. Both are governed by the same prominence scales but the two dimensions are logically independent.

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                                      Combined prominence rank for a cell in the animacy × definiteness grid. Sum of the two individual ranks, giving a scalar from 0 (inanimate, nonspecific) to 6 (human, personal pronoun).

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                                        Default prominence expectation per argument role.

                                        High-default roles (A, R) are typically human, definite, topical. Low-default roles (P, T) are typically inanimate, indefinite. S is the reference point — no strong default.

                                        Differential marking targets departures from these defaults:

                                        • P/T marking targets prominent referents (high prominence, unexpected)
                                        • A/R marking targets non-prominent referents (low prominence, unexpected)

                                        Returns true when the cell represents the "expected" (unmarked) zone.

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                                          A differential marking profile: which cells in the animacy × definiteness grid receive overt differential marking for a given argument role and channel.

                                          Covers all four combinations of role × channel: P flagging, A flagging, P indexing, A indexing.

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                                            Monotonicity for P marking (upper set): if a cell is marked, all more prominent cells are also marked. This is @cite{aissen-2003}'s staircase prediction, extended to P indexing by @cite{just-2024}.

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                                              Anti-monotonicity for A marking (lower set): if a cell is marked, all less prominent cells are also marked. This is the "mirror image" predicted by @cite{just-2024}: A indexing marks non-prominent As.

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                                                Role-appropriate monotonicity: low-default roles (P, T) must be monotone (upper set), high-default roles (A, R) must be anti-monotone (lower set). S profiles are vacuously monotone.

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                                                  Whether a marking profile depends only on animacy (definiteness is irrelevant).

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                                                    Whether a marking profile depends only on definiteness (animacy is irrelevant).

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                                                      Construct a one-dimensional animacy-based P-marking profile: P arguments at or above the cutoff are marked. (For A marking, use animacyCutoffA.)

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                                                        Construct a one-dimensional definiteness-based P-marking profile.

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                                                          Construct a one-dimensional animacy-based A-marking profile: A arguments at or below the cutoff are marked (anti-monotone / lower set).

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                                                            Construct a one-dimensional definiteness-based A-marking profile.

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                                                              Animacy-cutoff P profiles are always monotone.

                                                              Definiteness-cutoff P profiles are always monotone.

                                                              Animacy-cutoff A profiles are always monotone (anti-monotone).

                                                              Definiteness-cutoff A profiles are always monotone (anti-monotone).

                                                              For any one-dimensional animacy cutoff, P marking at level c and A marking at level c produce complementary profiles: every cell is marked by exactly one of them (except the cutoff row itself, marked by both).

                                                              A monotransitive scenario: the person combination of A and P.

                                                              Scenario splits arise when argument coding depends not on a single argument's prominence but on the combination of A-person and P-person. E.g., 1→3 ("I see him") vs. 3→1 ("He sees me") may get different flagging or indexing.

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                                                                      Whether a scenario is "downstream": A has higher person rank than P. This is the "usual" direction — the role-reference association predicts high-rank roles (A) to have high-prominence referents. Downstream scenarios tend to get the shortest coding.

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                                                                        Whether a scenario is "upstream": P has higher person rank than A. This is the "unusual" direction — against the role-reference association. Upstream scenarios tend to get the longest coding.

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                                                                          Whether a scenario is "balanced": A and P have the same person rank (e.g., 3→3). Intermediate coding predicted.

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                                                                            Whether a scenario is "local": both arguments are SAP (1st or 2nd). Local scenarios (1↔2) are frequent and tend to get short coding.

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                                                                              Whether a scenario is "direct": SAP acts on 3rd person. A subtype of downstream scenarios.

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                                                                                Whether a scenario is "inverse": 3rd person acts on SAP. A subtype of upstream scenarios.

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                                                                                  Whether a scenario is "non-local": 3rd person acts on 3rd person. A subtype of balanced scenarios.

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                                                                                    All 9 person-pair scenarios.

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                                                                                      The direction of differential marking: for a given role, does differential coding target the prominent end (upper set) or the non-prominent end (lower set)?

                                                                                      Returns true when differential marking targets the prominent end. P and T → true (mark prominent referents). A and R → false (mark non-prominent referents).

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                                                                                        R behaves like A: both have high default prominence and differential marking targets the non-prominent end.

                                                                                        T behaves like P: both have low default prominence and differential marking targets the prominent end.

                                                                                        Frequency class for scenarios: downstream (usual) most frequent. Downstream = 2, balanced = 1, upstream = 0.

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                                                                                          Gradient upstream degree: how far P's rank exceeds A's. Uses Nat saturating subtraction (negative → 0).

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                                                                                            Frequency class is monotone: downstream > balanced > upstream.