Balancing and deranking

In linguistics, balancing and deranking are terms used There are relatively few languages that use deranked verb
to describe the form of verbs used in various types of forms for all subordinate clauses (examples are found
subordinate clauses and also sometimes in co-ordinate amongst the Tungusic and Salishan languages[2] ) but most
constructions. languages with signicant verb inection use deranking
for at least some of their subordinate clauses. Exceptions
A verb form is said to be balanced if it is identical can be found only amongst certain rigidly head-marking
to forms used in independent declarative clauses languages such as Ainu and Lakhota. Languages with de-
ranking far down (rightward) on the hierarchy are most
A subordinate verb form is said to be deranked if it typically those with extensive nominal case systems. This
cannot be used in independent declarative clauses is because in their presence information expressed by per-
son marking on the verb is already expressed on nouns.
If relations of core noun phrases are marked only on the
verb, it is less uneconomic to express them in a dependent
1 Deranked verb forms clause.

Verb forms that occur in subordinate clauses of various
languages that cannot occur in independent clauses are of
various types, but there do exist some typical patterns that
dierentiate these forms from main-clause verb forms in
the same language.
1. There are verb forms that possess the same type of
person and tense marking as the verb forms used in
independent declarative clauses, but dier in mood.
Typical examples include such forms as subjunctives
and irrealis moods. In the EskimoAleut languages,
there are special dependent moods used only in
subordinate clauses.
The distribution of balancing and deranking in languages
that do not belong to one of the two polar types briey
discussed in the previous page follows a denite hierar-
chy. If balancing is used at any point, it is used for all
points below it on the following list (to the right in tra-
ditional wording of the deranking hierarchy)[3] Relevant
clauses for each example are italicised.
1. Modals and phasals (e.g. I begin to run")
2. Purpose clauses (e.g. I went into the phone booth
in order to ring up my friend")

2. There are verb forms that have the same distinctions
of person, tense and aspect as are found in main-
clause verbs, but which indicate them using special
forms distinct from those of main clause verbs.[1]
3. There are verb forms that do not have the distinc-
tions of person, tense and aspect found in main-
clause verbs, such as participles. These are used for
certain types of subordinate clauses in English like
Being so busy, I couldn't come home.
4. There are verb forms that add extra morphemes
never found on main clause verbs. Often these are
adpositions or case suxes.
3. Desideratives (e.g. I want to write a letter") and
manipulatives (e.g. I made John ght")
4. Perception (e.g. I see the bus passing")
5. Before, when and after, plus nominative or
absolutive relativisation.
6. Reason (e.g. I cannot leave him alone, because hes
gone mad") and reality condition (e.g. "If capitalism
did not cause the Great Depression, government was
responsible), plus accusative or ergative relativisa-
tion.

7. Knowledge (e.g. I know that the weather will be

2 Subordination deranking hierar-
chy
Languages that use deranking for their subordinate-clause
verb forms do so according to a denite pattern.
very hot") and propositional attitude (e.g. I think
that we should stay at home today"), plus oblique and
indirect object relativisation.
8. Utterance (e.g. He said that he was tired").

1
2 3 REFERENCES

2.1 Explanations for the deranking hierar-

chy
The commonly accepted explanation for the hierarchy
outlined in the previous section is that the types of rela-
tion at the top of the deranking hierarchy are much more
semantically integrated than those at the bottom. Being
semantically integrated means that the events in the main
and subordinate clauses are linked, which is true of pur-
pose, perception, before, when and after clauses,
but not of those further rightward in the hierarchy. This
integration leads to the use of verb forms not marked for
tense, person or aspect, since they are much simpler than
verb forms with these markers.
Relations that are temporal and imply that the dependent
event takes place within a particular time reference rel-
ative to the main event favour verb forms that are un-
marked for tense or aspect for the same reason. The is
why temporal relations like before, when and after
come above relationships that have no temporal implica-
tion of this type like conditionals.
Another factor inuencing use of deranking is lack of re-
alisation of the dependent event, which often leads in pur-
pose, desiderative and manipulative clauses to the use of
moods that cannot be used in independent clauses.

3 References
[1] Croft, William; Typology and Universals; pp. 216-217.
ISBN 0-521-00499-3

[2] Cristofaro, Sonia; Subordination; pp. 298-300. ISBN 0-

19-928200-5

[3] Croft; Typology and Universals; p. 217

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