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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. 207–242

Lexical and syntactic categories in Nêlêmwa (New Caledonia) and some other Austronesian languages

Fluid vs. rigid categoriality

| LACITO-CNRS, & EPHE

In contrast with various Austronesian languages (especially Formosan, Philippine, Polynesian) for which lexical roots are claimed to be functionally unspecified or precategorial, lexical bases in Nêlêmwa (New Caledonia) evidence a clear noun/verb opposition, identifiable by distinctive morphosyntactic features, except for some 5% fluid bases which can be nouns or verbs without any derivation. Beyond their prototypical functions, nouns, verbs and their subcategories display some functional flexibility in Nêlêmwa; it thus stands midway between flexible and rigid languages. Yet categorial flexibility is asymmetrical, nouns are the most flexible and may be recategorised in relation to their propositional operation and syntactic function, giving rise to hybrid lexico-syntactic words. Nêlêmwa data will be compared and put into perspective with data from other Austronesian languages.

Keywords: conversion, derivation, fluid bases, omnipredicativity, polycategoriality, categorial fluidity, lexico-syntactic categories
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.An overview of lexical categories and their features in Nêlêmwa
    • 2.1Defining Nêlêmwa nouns and verbs
    • 2.2Lexical bases with distinctive morphological categorial features
    • 2.3Lexical bases without distinctive morphological features: Distributional criteria
    • 2.4Fluid bases
    • 2.5Summary of distributional and syntactic criteria
  • 3.Derivational processes: Asymmetric derivation in Nêlêmwa
    • 3.1Deverbal derivational prefixes
    • 3.2Deverbal nouns with – wo
    • 3.3Compounds with the causative light verb thu ‘do’
  • 4.Omnipredicativity in equative or ascriptive clauses
  • 5.Asymmetrical polyfunctionality of lexical bases and lexico-syntactic categories
    • 5.1Categorial fluidity of verbs in Nêlêmwa
    • 5.2Predicative relational nouns in Nêlêmwa
      • 5.2.1Semantics
      • 5.2.2Syntax
      • 5.2.3Predicative relational nouns expressing quantification, modality and degree
  • 6.Further ‘mismatches’ between lexical categories and lexico-syntactic categories
    • 6.1‘Adjectival’ property nouns
    • 6.2Adpositional nouns
  • 7.Other Austronesian languages: Some comparative insights
    • 7.1Formosan- and Philippine-type languages
      • 7.1.1The case of Seediq
      • 7.1.2Philippine languages: The case of Tagalog
    • 7.2Polynesian languages: The case of Tuvaluan
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 1 November 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.182.08bri
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