Abstract A phenomenon often termed “optional ergative marking” is found in a number of genetically unrelated languages. Yali, a Trans-New Guinea language spoken in West Papua, shows striking similarities to optional ergative systems as described in the literature. This paper focuses on the relation between agentivity and discourse prominence, and argues in favour of a systematic distinction between semantic and syntactic contexts as conditioning factors for optional ergative marking. It further provides new evidence for the close interplay of ergative marking and what has been termed “discourse prominence” in descriptions of some other languages and shows that in Yali, optional ergative marking operates on both the global and the local level of discourse.

中文翻译：

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选择性的行事，代理和话语突出性-来自雅利的证据（新几内亚）

摘要在许多与遗传无关的语言中都发现了一种通常被称为“可选的适格标记”的现象。Yali是在西巴布亚使用的新几内亚跨语言语言，与文献中描述的可选的ergative系统有着惊人的相似之处。本文着重于主体性和语篇突出性之间的关系，并主张系统地区分语义和句法语境，作为可选的适格标记的条件因素。它进一步提供了新的证据，证明了庄严标记与其他一些语言的描述中所谓的“话语突出”之间的紧密相互作用，并表明在雅利语中，可选的庄严标记在语篇的整体和局部层面上都起作用。