The Syntax of Purpose Clauses in Hill Mari

This study is devoted to the syntax of purpose clauses in Hill Mari language and its relations to the typological theory of purpose clauses. It has been multiply noticed that purpose clauses tend not to express their subject overtly. Hill Mari purpose clauses display this property too. However, the principles, licensing purpose clause’s subject omission, which has been found in Hill Mari, differ from the ones that have been attested by previous typological studies. Basically the subject of a purpose clause cannot be omitted under coreference with matrix clause's object in Hill Mari. However, there are two conditions, which can potentially licence that, namely the subjordinate clause's verb unaccusativity and the situation when the purpose clause belongs to the matrix clause's argument structure. These conditions have not been attested throughout previous typological researches. In this study I provide an analysis, explaining those observations, which is based on a phenomena of argument ellipsis, null subject control and structural relations. Thus, those Hill Mari properties do not actually constitute a typological novelty.