Chapter 5
Antipassive constructions in Oceanic languages
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).
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
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