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Article published In:
Transitivity and Valency: From theory to acquisition
Edited by Georgia Fotiadou and Hélène Vassiliadou
[Lingvisticæ Investigationes 40:1] 2017
► pp. 81–116

Transitivity and valency in Northern Akhvakh

 | University of Lyon
This paper analyzes transitivity and valency in Northern Akhvakh, a language belonging to the Andic group of languages included in the Northeast Caucasian (or Nakh-Daghestanian) family. Northern Akhvakh clause structure is characterized by an extreme flexibility of constituent order, omissibility of arguments with an either anaphoric or unspecified reading, and fully consistent ergative coding of core NPs. Northern Akhvakh has a very low rate of transitivity prominence, and an extremely strong tendency to derive the causal member of noncausal / causal pairs from its noncausal counterpart. Ambitransitivity is very marginal, and the productivity of morphologically unmarked valency alternations is very limited. Causative derivation is the only valency changing mechanism involving verb morphology, and ingestion verbs are the only transitive verbs for which causative derivation is productive.
Keywords: Akhvakh, Nakh-Daghestanian, transitivity, valency
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • 1.The basics of Akhvakh morphosyntax
    • 1.1Clause structure
      • 1.1.1Constituent order
      • 1.1.2Basic transitive coding and intransitive alignment
      • 1.1.3Unexpressed arguments
      • 1.1.4The ‘binominative’ construction
    • 1.2Verb inflection
      • 1.2.1The morphological structure of synthetic verb forms
      • 1.2.2The suffixal inflection of verbs heading independent clauses
      • 1.2.3Analytic verb forms
      • 1.2.4Dependent verb forms
    • 1.3Noun phrase structure
    • 1.4Case inflection
      • 1.4.1The inventory of cases
      • 1.4.2The ergative and the encoding of instruments
      • 1.4.3Genitive NPs in argumental function
      • 1.4.4Spatial cases
      • 1.4.5The choice between locative and allative with verbs of movement
  • 2.The coding frames of Northern Akhvakh
    • 2.1Avalent verbs
    • 2.2Monovalent verbs
    • 2.3Bivalent verbs
      • 2.3.1The case frame <erg, nom>
      • 2.3.2The case frame <nom, dat>
      • 2.3.3Case frames involving the nominative and a spatial case
      • 2.3.4Others
    • 2.4Trivalent verbs
      • 2.4.1The case frame <erg, nom, dat>
      • 2.4.2Case frames involving spatial cases
      • 2.4.3Others
    • 2.5Quadrivalent verbs
    • 2.6Noun + verb compounds
    • 2.7Adverb + verb compounds
  • 3.Northern Akhvakh and the typology of transitivity
    • 3.1Transitivity prominence
    • 3.2The orientation of the noncausal-causal alternation
  • 4.Morphologically uncoded valency alternations
    • 4.1Preliminary remarks
    • 4.2A-lability
    • 4.3P-lability, the functional equivalent of passive constructions, and morphologically unmarked causal / noncausal alternations
    • 4.4Unexpressed non-nominative arguments
    • 4.5Unexpressed nominative arguments
    • 4.6Others
      • 4.6.1The dat ~ all 2 alternation
      • 4.6.2The nom ~ loc alternation
    • 4.8The expression of ‘involuntary agents’
  • 5.The causative derivation
    • 5.1The causative suffixes
    • 5.2Causative derivation and transitivity
    • 5.3Causative derivation without valency increase
    • 5.4Lexicalized causatives
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 8 December 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/li.40.1.05cre
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Creissels, Denis
2024. Transitivity, Valency, and Voice, DOI logo

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