Applicative Morphology - Neglected Syntactic and Non-syntactic Functions

This book is about recurrent functions of applicative morphology not included in typologically-oriented definitions. Based on substantial cross-linguistic evidence, it challenges received wisdom on applicatives in several ways. First, in many of the surveyed languages, applicatives are the sole means to introduce a non-Actor semantic role into a clause. When there is an alternative way of expression, the applicative counterpart often has no valence-increasing effect on the targeted root. Second, applicative morphology can introduce constituents which are not syntactic objects and/or co-occur with obliques. Third, functions such as conveying aspectual nuances to the predicate (intensity, repetition, habituality) or its arguments (partitive P, highly individuated P), narrow-focusing constituents, and functioning as category-changing devices are attested in geographically distant and genetically unrelated languages. Further, this volume reveals that spatial-related morphology is prone to developing applicative functions in disparate languages and phyla. Finally, several contributions discuss the diachrony of applicative constructions and their (non-syntactic) attested functions, including a case of applicatives-in-the-making.

About the author

Sara Pacchiarotti, Ghent University, Belgium; Fernando Zúñiga, University of Bern, Switzerland.

Product details

• Assisted by: Sara Pacchiarotti (Editor), Zuniga (Editor), Fernando Zuniga (Editor)
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Languages: English, German
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 21.10.2024
• EAN: 9783111631783
• ISBN: 978-3-11-163178-3
• No. of pages: 477
• Dimensions: 155 mm x 28 mm x 230 mm
• Weight: 863 g
• Illustrations: 6 b/w ill., 24 b/w tbl., 1 b/w maps
• Series: Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs [TiLSM]
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative linguistics; Semantik, Morphologie, Pragmatik, Linguistics, Grammar, syntax & morphology, Language Change, Paperback Project, Semantics & pragmatics, LAN009060 LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Syntax, Semantic and Pragmatic Functions, Valence-Neutral Applicative Morphology, Spatial Morphology