The influence of the state distinction on word order and information structure in Kabyle and Siwi (Berber)

This paper, based on monologues and dialogues recorded in the field, shows how the presence (Kabyle) or the absence (Siwi) of an inflectional marking on nouns called state impacts the number and functions of grammatical relations and information structure constructions in those two closely related Berber languages. Indeed, in Kabyle, state allows to distinguish between subject and object when two nouns follow each other after the verb, whereas in Siwi, sequences of two postverbal nominal arguments are avoided; only AVO is attested. As linear ordering is also a formal means for information structure coding, this results in Siwi having fewer constructions available for that functional domain, and consequently, different information structure functions encoded through linear ordering than Kabyle