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Author Bril, Isabelle

Title Complex Predicates in Oceanic Languages
Published Berlin : De Gruyter, 2004

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Description 1 online resource (410)
Series Empirical approaches to language typology ; 29
Empirical approaches to language typology ; 29
Contents Contents -- List of Contributors -- Introduction -- Complex nuclei in Oceanic languages: Contribution to an areal typology -- What do we really know about serial verb constructions in Austronesian and Papuan languages? -- Core-layer junctures in Saliba -- Serial and complex verb constructions in Teop -- Chains of freedom: Constraints and creativity in the macro-verb strategies of Mwotlap -- Serial and compound verbs in AnejomÌ? -- Complex verbs and dependency strategies in Nîlîmwa (New Caledonia) -- Complex predicate constructions in East Uvean (Wallis)
Serial verbs and complex constructions in PileniComplex predicates in Tahitian: A particular case of qualitative modification -- Complex predicates and Juxtapositional Constructions in Samoan -- The grammaticization of directional verbs in Oceanic languages -- The evolution of the verb �take� in New Caledonian languages -- Verbal compounds and lexical prefixes in the languages of New Caledonia -- References -- Index
Summary Serial verbs and complex predicates have a long history of research, yet there is comparatively little documentation on Oceanic languages. This volume presents new data for further typological studies. While previous research on serial verbs in Oceanic languages was mostly devoted to "core" serial constructions (with non-contiguous sV(o)sV(o) nuclei), this volume contributes a more detailed investigation of the "nuclear" type of complex predicates involving contiguous sVV(o) nuclei. Complex predicates of the form VV may correspond to two different syntactic structures, either co-ranking or hierarchized (head-modifier). Though the VV pattern does evidence a tendency towards structural compression, often entailing the fusion of the argument structures of two or more nuclei, yet it cannot be reduced to cases of co-lexicalization, compounding or grammaticalization. The data also show the "nuclear" type to be compatible with all types of basic word orders (VSO, VOS, SVO, SOV), with no evidence that this results from any word order change. This challenges the claim that "nuclear" serialization correlates with verb-final order, and "core" serialization with verb-medial order
Notes Print version record
Subject Oceanic languages -- Grammar
Oceanic languages -- Syntax
Oceanic languages -- Verb
Form Electronic book
ISBN 3110913283
9783110913286