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Antipassive: Typology, diachrony, and related constructions
Edited by Katarzyna Janic and Alena Witzlack-Makarevich
[Typological Studies in Language 130] 2021
► pp. 97–148

Chapter 4
Aspect and modality in Pama-Nyungan antipassives

| University of Toronto

I present data from Pama-Nyungan languages that display aspectual and modal readings in the antipassive construction, and propose that antipassives contain a predicate-internal aspectual morpheme that derives an atelic predicate. Taking a modal approach to aspect unifies the aspectual and modal readings. I detail the striking resemblance between the set of interpretations attested in antipassives and imperfectives more generally, and show how the compositional analysis I propose is able to provide insight into unexpected volitional and “total effect” readings.

Keywords: antipassives, imperfectives, telicity, modality, Australian Aboriginal languages
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Morphosyntactic properties of Pama-Nyungan antipassives
    • 2.1Case
    • 2.2Verb marking
    • 2.3The antipassive object
    • 2.4Exclusions
  • 3.Data from Pama-Nyungan languages
    • 3.1Kalkatungu
    • 3.2Warrongo
    • 3.3Guugu Yimidhirr
    • 3.4Dyirbal
    • 3.5Pitta Pitta
    • 3.6Mabuiag
    • 3.7Kuku Yalanji
    • 3.8Summary
  • 4.Aspectual analysis
    • 4.1Parallels with imperfective aspect
    • 4.2Predicate-internal aspect
    • 4.3Modal approach to imperfectivity
  • 5.Technical implementation
  • 6.Alternative analyses
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 23 March 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.130.04den
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Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Claire Bowern
2023. The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages, DOI logo
Janic, Katarzyna & Alena Witzlack-Makarevich
2021. Chapter 1. The multifaceted nature of the antipassive construction. In Antipassive [Typological Studies in Language, 130], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

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