Much work on linguistic animacy represents it as a gradient or scalar phenomenon, conceptualized as either linear or radial (Lockwood and Macaulay 2012; Yamamoto 1999, 2006). De Swart & de Hoop’s (henceforth dS&dH) central proposal rejects the view that grammatical reflexes of animacy are themselves gradient. Instead, they argue for a dissociation between conceptual animacy, a category which allows for gradience, and grammatical animacy, a set of discrete, binary oppositions onto which conceptual animacy is mapped. In their view, predicates impose selectional restrictions in line with these ontological types. When a mismatch occurs between a predicate and selected argument type, three outcomes are possible: ungrammaticality; overt type shifting, where an overt morphological marker induces a change in the selectional properties of the predicate but not the animacy of the argument; and covert type shifting, where the animacy of the argument is reinterpreted to match the selectional restrictions of the predicate. We find their model of animacy in the grammar broadly persuasive, and it offers an elegant account of a range of phenomena discussed in the paper, particularly for languages that make use of overt morphological markers for type shifting. In order to investigate the broader validity of their proposal, we bring in some additional cross-linguistic evidence to test two specific claims: first, that conceptually gradient animacy maps onto binary oppositions in the grammar, and second, that there is a straightforward correlation between the presence of overt morphological marking and the locus of type shifts in predicates versus arguments. To address the first point we examine noun class systems, and to address the second we look at the interaction of animacy and voice.

中文翻译：

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转移视角：名词类，语音和动画类型转移

关于语言生气勃勃的许多工作将其表示为梯度或标量现象，概念化为线性或放射状（Lockwood和Macaulay 2012； Yamamoto 1999，2006）。De Swart＆de Hoop（此后称为dS＆dH）的中心提议拒绝了关于生气勃勃的语法反应本身就是梯度的观点。取而代之的是，他们主张在概念无生命性（允许出现梯度的类别）与语法无生命性（一组将概念无生命性映射到其上的离散，二元对立）之间分离。他们认为，谓词施加了与这些本体论类型一致的选择限制。当谓词和选定的参数类型之间发生不匹配时，可能出现三个结果：不合语法；明显的类型转换 明显的形态标志物引起谓词选择特性的变化，而不引起论点的生气；隐蔽类型转换，其中参数的动画性被重新解释以匹配谓词的选择限制。我们在语法中广泛地发现了他们的动画模型，它很好地说明了本文中讨论的一系列现象，特别是对于使用明显形态标记进行类型转换的语言。为了调查其提议的更广泛的有效性，我们引入了一些其他的跨语言证据来测试两个特定的主张：首先，概念上的梯度无意性映射到语法中的二元对立；其次，明显的形态学标记的存在与谓词与论据的类型转换轨迹之间存在直接的关联。为了解决第一点，我们研究了名词类系统，为了解决第二点，我们研究了生气和声音的相互作用。