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Lexical Polycategoriality: Cross-linguistic, cross-theoretical and language acquisition approaches
Edited by Valentina Vapnarsky and Edy Veneziano
[Studies in Language Companion Series 182] 2017
► pp. 155–174

Polycategoriality and zero derivation

Insights from Central Alaskan Yup’ik Eskimo

| University of California, Santa Barbara

The possibility of polycategorial lexical items, unspecified for category, raises interesting issues. One is the predictability of semantic relationships between polycategorial forms in predicating and referring uses. Another is the language-internal generality of the phenomenon, whether it necessarily holds of all units at a particular level. A third is its cross-linguistic generality and potential association with certain typological features. These issues are examined with examples from a language exhibiting striking similarities to the Mayan languages for which polycategoriality has recently been argued. Central Alaskan Yup’ik Eskimo appears to show robust polycategoriality at the root, stem, word, and clause level. A closer look indicates that the story is actually more interesting, and that the universality of polycategoriality remains an open question.

Keywords: conversion, lexical category, polycategoriality, Yup’ik, zero derivation
Article outline
  • 1.Polycategoriality
  • 2.Central Alaskan Yup’ik Eskimo
    • 2.1Yup’ik roots
    • 2.2Derived stems
    • 2.3Fully inflected words
    • 2.4Earlier monocategorial proposal
  • 3.A closer look
    • 3.1Roots
    • 3.2Derived stems
    • 3.3Inflected words
  • 4.Syntax
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 1 November 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.182.06mit
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