Applicative Morphology: Neglected Syntactic and Non-Syntactic Functions (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9783110777857)

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.

Author: Sara Pacchiarotti
ISBN-10: 3110777851
ISBN-13: 9783110777857
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Language: English
Published: 10/03/2022
Pages: 483
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.87lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 1.06d