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Neglected Aspects of Motion-Event Description: Deixis, asymmetries, constructions
Edited by Laure Sarda and Benjamin Fagard
[Human Cognitive Processing 72] 2022
► pp. 209–233

Chapter 10
The description of transitive directed motion in Lakhota (Siouan)

| Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
| Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf | The State University of New York at Buffalo

Siouan languages such as Lakhota provide an interesting case for the study of transitive directed motion descriptions because of their rich inventory of deictic motion verbs and instrumental (causative) affixes. The goal of this article is to show in detail how the different meaning components involved in such descriptions are distributed over the lexicon, the morphology, and the syntax of Lakhota. In particular, Lakhota supports a multi-verb construction for expressing transitive directed motion that consists of a transitivized deictic motion verb used as the main verb, which encodes caused motion or accompanied motion, and a dependent verb that describes the way in which the actor sets or keeps the undergoer in motion and the manner in which the undergoer moves.

Keywords: causation, deictic motion, Lakhota, multi-verb construction, Siouan, transitive motion
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Semantic parameters of transitive directed motion
  • 3.General properties of Lakhota
    • 3.1Verbal morphology
    • 3.2Multi-verb constructions
  • 4.The expression of (transitive) directed motion in Lakhota
    • 4.1Deictic motion verbs (= verbs of coming and going)
    • 4.2The expression of goals and directions
    • 4.3Transitive deictic motion verbs
    • 4.4Expressing manner and causal force in directed motion constructions
  • 5.Instrumental prefixes
    • 5.1Overview of the inventory
    • 5.2Aktionsart properties of instrumental prefixes and prefixed verbs
  • 6.The composition of causation, manner, and deictic motion
  • 7.Typological perspectives
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 7 July 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.72.10oss
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