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:
- Animacy: Human > Animate > Inanimate
- Definiteness: Personal Pronoun > Proper Name > Definite NP > Indefinite Specific > Non-specific
- Person: 1st > 2nd > 3rd
These are the same scales for all argument roles (A, P, R, T), but the polarity of differential marking depends on argument role:
- P/T marking targets prominent referents (departures from low default)
- A/R marking targets non-prominent referents (departures from high default)
Argument Roles (@cite{haspelmath-2021}, §2–5) #
Five roles span monotransitive and ditransitive clauses:
- S: sole argument of intransitive (reference point for alignment)
- A: agent-like argument of monotransitive
- P: patient-like argument of monotransitive
- R: recipient-like argument of ditransitive (higher role rank, like A)
- T: theme-like argument of ditransitive (lower role rank, like P)
Marking Channels #
Differential argument marking has two independent realization channels:
- Flagging: morphological case on the NP
- Indexing: verbal agreement / cross-referencing
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.
- human : AnimacyLevel
Most prominent: human referents
- animate : AnimacyLevel
Non-human animates
- inanimate : AnimacyLevel
Least prominent: inanimate referents
Instances For
Equations
- Core.Prominence.instBEqAnimacyLevel.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Equations
Numeric rank on the animacy scale: Human (2) > Animate (1) > Inanimate (0).
Equations
Instances For
All animacy levels (exhaustive enumeration for finite verification).
Equations
Instances For
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.
- speaker : AnimacyRank
- addressee : AnimacyRank
- thirdPerson : AnimacyRank
- kin : AnimacyRank
- human : AnimacyRank
- higherAnimal : AnimacyRank
- lowerAnimal : AnimacyRank
- discreteInanimate : AnimacyRank
- nondiscreteInanimate : AnimacyRank
Instances For
Equations
- Core.Prominence.instBEqAnimacyRank.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)
Instances For
Equations
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Numeric rank for comparison (higher = more likely to be plural-marked).
Equations
- Core.Prominence.AnimacyRank.speaker.toNat = 8
- Core.Prominence.AnimacyRank.addressee.toNat = 7
- Core.Prominence.AnimacyRank.thirdPerson.toNat = 6
- Core.Prominence.AnimacyRank.kin.toNat = 5
- Core.Prominence.AnimacyRank.human.toNat = 4
- Core.Prominence.AnimacyRank.higherAnimal.toNat = 3
- Core.Prominence.AnimacyRank.lowerAnimal.toNat = 2
- Core.Prominence.AnimacyRank.discreteInanimate.toNat = 1
- Core.Prominence.AnimacyRank.nondiscreteInanimate.toNat = 0
Instances For
Coarsen the 9-level animacy hierarchy to the 3-level scale used for differential argument marking. The mapping:
- speaker/addressee/thirdPerson/kin/human →
.human - higherAnimal/lowerAnimal →
.animate - discreteInanimate/nondiscreteInanimate →
.inanimate
Equations
- Core.Prominence.AnimacyRank.speaker.toAnimacyLevel = Core.Prominence.AnimacyLevel.human
- Core.Prominence.AnimacyRank.addressee.toAnimacyLevel = Core.Prominence.AnimacyLevel.human
- Core.Prominence.AnimacyRank.thirdPerson.toAnimacyLevel = Core.Prominence.AnimacyLevel.human
- Core.Prominence.AnimacyRank.kin.toAnimacyLevel = Core.Prominence.AnimacyLevel.human
- Core.Prominence.AnimacyRank.human.toAnimacyLevel = Core.Prominence.AnimacyLevel.human
- Core.Prominence.AnimacyRank.higherAnimal.toAnimacyLevel = Core.Prominence.AnimacyLevel.animate
- Core.Prominence.AnimacyRank.lowerAnimal.toAnimacyLevel = Core.Prominence.AnimacyLevel.animate
- Core.Prominence.AnimacyRank.discreteInanimate.toAnimacyLevel = Core.Prominence.AnimacyLevel.inanimate
- Core.Prominence.AnimacyRank.nondiscreteInanimate.toAnimacyLevel = Core.Prominence.AnimacyLevel.inanimate
Instances For
Coarsening is monotone: higher rank implies ≥ level.
The hierarchy is consistent: speaker outranks addressee outranks third person, and so forth down the scale.
The hierarchy predicts: if a language marks plural at rank r, it marks plural at all ranks above r.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Levels of the definiteness prominence scale. Personal Pronoun > Proper Name > Definite NP > Indefinite Specific NP > Non-specific NP.
- personalPronoun : DefinitenessLevel
Most prominent: personal pronouns
- properName : DefinitenessLevel
Proper names
- definite : DefinitenessLevel
Definite NPs (with article or demonstrative)
- indefiniteSpecific : DefinitenessLevel
Indefinite but specific NPs
- nonSpecific : DefinitenessLevel
Least prominent: non-specific indefinites
Instances For
Equations
- Core.Prominence.instBEqDefinitenessLevel.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Numeric rank on the definiteness scale: Pronoun (4) > Proper (3) > Definite (2) > IndSp (1) > NonSp (0).
Equations
Instances For
All definiteness levels (exhaustive enumeration).
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Person prominence scale. 1st > 2nd > 3rd. SAP (speech-act participants, 1st/2nd) are more prominent than 3rd person.
- first : PersonLevel
- second : PersonLevel
- third : PersonLevel
Instances For
Equations
- Core.Prominence.instBEqPersonLevel.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Equations
Numeric rank on the person scale: 1st (2) > 2nd (1) > 3rd (0).
Equations
Instances For
All person levels.
Equations
Instances For
Whether a person level is a speech-act participant (SAP = local).
Equations
Instances For
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
Instances For
Equations
- Core.Prominence.instBEqArgumentRole.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Equations
Role rank: A > P for monotransitives, R > T for ditransitives. S is in between. Higher rank = higher default prominence expectation.
Equations
Instances For
Whether this role has high default prominence (A-like). Differential marking for high-default roles targets non-prominent referents.
Equations
Instances For
Whether this role has low default prominence (P-like). Differential marking for low-default roles targets prominent referents.
Equations
Instances For
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.
- flagging : MarkingChannel
Case morphology on the NP
- indexing : MarkingChannel
Verbal agreement / cross-referencing
Instances For
Equations
- Core.Prominence.instBEqMarkingChannel.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)
Instances For
Equations
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
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).
Equations
- Core.Prominence.prominenceRank a d = a.rank + d.rank
Instances For
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.
Equations
- Core.Prominence.isDefaultZone Core.Prominence.ArgumentRole.A a d = decide (Core.Prominence.prominenceRank a d ≥ 3)
- Core.Prominence.isDefaultZone Core.Prominence.ArgumentRole.R a d = decide (Core.Prominence.prominenceRank a d ≥ 3)
- Core.Prominence.isDefaultZone Core.Prominence.ArgumentRole.S a d = true
- Core.Prominence.isDefaultZone Core.Prominence.ArgumentRole.P a d = decide (Core.Prominence.prominenceRank a d ≤ 2)
- Core.Prominence.isDefaultZone Core.Prominence.ArgumentRole.T a d = decide (Core.Prominence.prominenceRank a d ≤ 2)
Instances For
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.
- name : String
Language name
- role : ArgumentRole
Which argument role: A or P
- channel : MarkingChannel
Realization channel: flagging (case) or indexing (agreement)
- marks : AnimacyLevel → DefinitenessLevel → Bool
Whether cell (a, d) receives differential marking
Instances For
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}.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
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.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
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.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Whether a marking profile depends only on animacy (definiteness is irrelevant).
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Whether a marking profile depends only on definiteness (animacy is irrelevant).
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Construct a one-dimensional animacy-based P-marking profile: P arguments
at or above the cutoff are marked. (For A marking, use animacyCutoffA.)
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Construct a one-dimensional definiteness-based P-marking profile.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Construct a one-dimensional animacy-based A-marking profile: A arguments at or below the cutoff are marked (anti-monotone / lower set).
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Construct a one-dimensional definiteness-based A-marking profile.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
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.
- aPerson : PersonLevel
Person of the A argument
- pPerson : PersonLevel
Person of the P argument
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Equations
Equations
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
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.
Instances For
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.
Instances For
All 9 person-pair scenarios.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
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).
Equations
- Core.Prominence.differentialTargetsProminent Core.Prominence.ArgumentRole.P = true
- Core.Prominence.differentialTargetsProminent Core.Prominence.ArgumentRole.T = true
- Core.Prominence.differentialTargetsProminent Core.Prominence.ArgumentRole.A = false
- Core.Prominence.differentialTargetsProminent Core.Prominence.ArgumentRole.R = false
- Core.Prominence.differentialTargetsProminent Core.Prominence.ArgumentRole.S = false
Instances For
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.
Role rank ordering: A > R > S > T > P.
Frequency class for scenarios: downstream (usual) most frequent. Downstream = 2, balanced = 1, upstream = 0.
Equations
- s.frequencyClass = if s.isDownstream = true then 2 else if s.isBalanced = true then 1 else 0
Instances For
Frequency class is monotone: downstream > balanced > upstream.