Chapter published in:
Antipassive: Typology, diachrony, and related constructions
Edited by Katarzyna Janic and Alena Witzlack-Makarevich
[Typological Studies in Language 130] 2021
► pp. 149–176

Chapter 5
Antipassive constructions in Oceanic languages

| Lacito CNRS - UMR 7107
This article will discuss the different constructions which could be relevant for identifying antipassives in Oceanic languages, in spite of the fact that there is no dedicated antipassive marker. Some of these constructions involve the backgrounding of the object, but are associated with different syntactic devices, discursive strategies and semantic functions, giving rise to either incompleteness of the action, low individuation of the patient, or restrictions on its uses.Looking at their semantic and pragmatic specificities, I will investigate what these types of construction have in common and to which extent they can be labelled ‘antipassive’, as has been done inter alia by Cooreman (1994), Dixon (1992) and Janic (2013, 2016).
Keywords: depatientive, middle derivation, Oceanic languages, object incorporation, object omission, object peripherization
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Object omission
  • 3.Different types of object incorporation
    • 3.1Complete object incorporation
    • 3.2Pseudo noun incorporation
    • 3.3Transitivity discord
  • 4.Peripherization of the object
    • 4.1Object peripherization in Polynesian languages
    • 4.2Recessive voice
    • 4.3Marking of the object to avoid ambiguity
  • 5.Middle derivation
    • 5.1With reflexes of the POc *paRi- prefix
    • 5.2“Auto-causative” constructions with POc prefix *paka-
    • 5.3‘Unergative derivation’, a type of derivation with a middle meaning
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 23 March 2021
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.130.05moy
References
Besnier, Niko
2000 Tuvaluan. A Polynesian Language of the Central Pacific. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bril, Isabelle
1997 Split ergativity in Nêlêmwa. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics, Leiden, 1994, Cecilia Odé & Wim Stokhof (eds), 377–393. Amsterdam: Rodopi.Google Scholar
2002 Le nêlêmwa (Nouvelle-Calédonie). Analyse syntaxique et sémantique. Leuven: Peeters.Google Scholar
2010 Structure actancielle et diathèse: Du nêlêmwa aux langues néo-calédoniennes et austronésiennes. In Typologie et comparatisme. Hommages offerts à Alain Lemaréchal [Langues et cultures du Pacifique 16], Injoo Choi-Jonin, Marc Duval & Olivier Soutet (eds), 37–59. Paris: Peeters.Google Scholar
Comrie, Bernard
2013 Alignment of case marking of full noun phrases. In The World Atlas of Language Structures Online, Matthew S. Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds). Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. https://​wals​.info​/chapter​/98> (13 August 2020).
Cooreman, Ann
1994 A functional typology of antipassives. In Voice: Form and Function [Typological Studies in Language 27], Barbara A. Fox & Paul J. Hopper (eds), 49–88. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Creissels, Denis
2006 Syntaxe générale, une introduction typologique. Paris: Hermès.Google Scholar
Dixon, R. M. W.
1988 A Grammar of Boumaa Fijian. Chicago IL: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
1992 Antipassive. In International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, William Bright (ed.), 134–137. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Duranti, Alessandro
1994 From Grammar to Politics. Linguistic Anthropology in a Western Samoan Village. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Duranti, Alessandro & Ochs, Elinor
1990 Genitive constructions and agency in Samoan discourse. Studies in Language 14(1): 1–23. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Foley, William A.
2007 A typology of information packaging in the clause. In Language Typology and Syntactic Description, Vol. 1: Clause Structure, Timothy Shopen (ed.), 362–446. Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Foley, William A. & Van ValinJr., Robert D.
1984 Functional Syntax and Universal Grammar. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Gerdts, Donna B.
1988 Antipassive and causatives in Ilokano: Evidence for an ergative analysis. In Studies in Austronesian Linguistics, Richard Mc Ginn (ed.), 295–321. Athens OH: University of Ohio Press.Google Scholar
Givón, Talmy
1990 Syntax: a Functional-Typological Introduction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Heath, Jeffrey
1976 Antipassivization: a functional typology, Berkeley Linguistics Society 2: 202–211.Google Scholar
Janic, Katarzyna
2013 L’antipassif dans les langues accusatives. PhD dissertation, Lumière University Lyon 2.Google Scholar
2016 Synchronic and diachronic aspects of valency-reducing devices in Oceanic languages. Lingua Posnaniensis LVIII(2): 151–188. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kemmer, Suzanne
1993 The Middle Voice [Typological Studies of Language 23]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lazard, Gilbert
1986 Formes et fonctions du passif et de l’antipassif. Actances 2: 7–57.Google Scholar
1989 Transitivity and markedness: The antipassive in accusative languages. In Markedness in Synchrony and Diachrony, Olga Miseska Tomic (ed.), 309–331. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
1994 L’actance. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.Google Scholar
Lichtenberk, Frantisek
1983 A Grammar of Manam. Honolulu HI: University of Hawai’i Press.Google Scholar
1991 Reciprocals and depatientives in To’aba’ita. In Currents in Pacific Linguistics: Papers on Austronesian Languages and Ethnolinguistics in Honour of George W. Grace, Robert Blust (ed.), 171–183. Canberra: Australian National University.Google Scholar
2000 Reciprocals without reflexives. In Reciprocals: Forms and Functions [Typological Studies in Language 40], Zygmunt Frajzyngier & Traci S. Curl (eds), 31–62. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2007 Reciprocals and related meanings in To’aba’ita. In Reciprocal Constructions [Typological Studies in Language 71], Vladimir P. Nedjalkov (eds), 1547–1574. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2008 A Grammar of Toqabaqita. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lynch, John, Ross, Malcolm & Crowley, Terry
2002 The Oceanic Languages. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon.Google Scholar
Margetts, Anna
1999 Valence and Transitivity in Saliba, an Oceanic Language of Papua New Guinea. MPI Series in Psycholinguistics. Nijmegen: MPI.Google Scholar
2008 Transitivity discord in some Oceanic languages. Oceanic Linguistics 47(1): 30–44. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Massam, Diane
2001 Pseudo noun incorporation in Niuean. Natural Language & Linguistics Theory 19: 153–197. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Mosel, Ulrike & Hovdhaugen, Even
1992 Samoan Reference Grammar. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.Google Scholar
Moyse-Faurie, Claire
1985 Incorporation morphologique et incorporation syntaxique en drehu. Actances 1: 123–133.Google Scholar
2000 Ergative case avoidance in East Futunan. In SICOL Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Oceanic Linguistics, Vol. 2: Historical and Descriptive Studies, Bill Palmer & Paul Geraghty (eds), 369–380. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
2008 Constructions expressing middle, reflexive and reciprocal situations in some Oceanic languages. In Reciprocals and Reflexives. Theoretical and Typological Explorations, Ekkehard König & Volker Gast (eds), 105–168. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
2010 L’ambitransitivité: Exemples océaniens. In Essais de typologie et de linguistique générale. Mélanges offerts à Denis Creissels, Franck Floricic (éd.), 505–525. Lyon: ENS Editions.Google Scholar
2015 Valency classes in Xârâcùù (New Caledonia). In Valency Classes in the World’s Languages, Andrej Malchukov & Bernard Comrie (eds), 1015–1068. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar
2016 Te lea faka’uvea – Le wallisien. Leuven: Peeters.Google Scholar
Nougier-Voisin, Sylvie
2005 Antipassif et langues accusatives. In Linguistique typologique, Gilbert Lazard & Claire Moyse-Faurie (eds), 193–206. Villeneuve d’Ascq: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion.Google Scholar
Ochs, Elinor
1982 Ergativity and word order in Samoan child language. Language 58(3): 646–671. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ozanne-Rivierre, Françoise
1976 Le iaai. Langue mélanésienne d’Ouvéa (Nouvelle-Calédonie). Phonologie, morphologie, esquisse syntaxique. Paris: Selaf.Google Scholar
Palmer, Bill
1999 Kokota Grammar. Honolulu HI: University of Hawai’i Press.Google Scholar
Pawley, Andrew
1972 On the internal relationships of Eastern Oceanic languages. In Studies in Oceanic Culture History 3, Roger C. Green & Marion Kelly (eds), 1–142. Honolulu HI: Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum.Google Scholar
1973 Some problems in Proto Oceanic grammar. Oceanic Linguistics 12(1–2): 103–188. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Polinsky, Maria
2013 Antipassive constructions. In The World Atlas of Language Structures Online, Matthew S. Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds). Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. http://​wals​.info​/chapter​/108> (14 April 2018).
Shibatani, Masayoshi
2006 On the conceptual framework for voice phenomena. Linguistics 44(2): 217–269. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Silverstein, M.
1976 Hierarchy of features and ergativity. In Grammatical Categories in Australian Languages, R. M. W. Dixon (ed.), 112–171. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.Google Scholar
Sperlich, Wolfgang B.
(ed.) 1997 Tohi Vagahau Niue. Niue Language Dictionary. Honolulu HI: University of Hawai’i Press.Google Scholar
Tsunoda, Tasaku
1988 Antipassives in Warrungu and other Australian languages. In Passive and Voice [Typological Studies in Language 16], Masayoshi Shibatani (ed.), 595–649. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Van ValinJr., Robert D.
2005 Exploring the Syntax-Semantics Interface. Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Janic, Katarzyna
2021.  In Antipassive [Typological Studies in Language, 130], ► pp. 249 ff. Crossref logo
Janic, Katarzyna & Alena Witzlack-Makarevich
2021.  In Antipassive [Typological Studies in Language, 130], ► pp. 1 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 april 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.