3.3.4. Agreement markers
In LIS, plain verbs (LEXICON 3.2.1), namely verbs articulated on the body, can realise agreement with their arguments through an agreement marker that can be considered an auxiliary (glossed aux). This is a semantically empty deictic sign that can be used to express agreement relation only when animate arguments are involved. aux is phonologically similar to a pronoun, thus it could be an instance of grammaticalisation of a pronominal element into an auxiliary. It displays a path movement from the subject to the object of the predicate. As we can see in the following example, the agreement marker aux follows the verb.
giannia pietrob be_familiar aauxb
‘Gianni knows Pietro.’ (based on Bertone, 2011: 159)
aux can express all person combinations. We provide three illustrative examples: in (a) it realises agreement between a first person singular subject and a third person singular object; in (b) agreement is between a second person singular subject and a first person singular object; in (c) aux connects a second person singular subject with a third person plural object.
a. ix1 ix3 be_familiar 1aux3
‘I know him/her.’
b. ix2 ix1 be_familiar 2aux1 sure
‘You know me for sure.’
c. ix2 ix3pl ix2 be_familiar 2aux3pl
‘You know them.’
Interestingly, aux can also be employed with agreement verbs showing two points of articulation, such as give. In such instances, the occurrence of the auxiliary is to reinforce the semantics of the verb, so it is not obligatory since the verb is already marking the agreement between the subject and the indirect object. See the example below.
giannia pietrob book agiveb aauxb
‘Gianni gives the book to Pietro.’
A further auxiliary marker is give_aux, which is a causative auxiliary marker employed in causative psychological predicates to shows overt morphological agreement with the subject (earthquake)and the experiencer object (first person singular) (SYNTAX 2.1.1.3).
earthquake give_aux1 fear
‘Earthquakes scare me.’
