Author: Nordlinger, Rachel

Source: Studies in Language, Volume 35, Number 3, 2011 , pp. 702-734(33)

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Abstract:

In this paper I discuss transitivity in Murrinh-Patha, a non-Pama-Nyungan polysynthetic language from northern Australia. I survey the range of bivalent clauses in Murrinh-Patha and their morphosyntactic properties, and consider their analysis in terms of definitions of transitivity in the cross-linguistic literature. I argue that syntactic definitions of transitivity, while compatible with the Murrinh-Patha data, are empirically unrevealing since they provide little account for the varying morphosyntactic properties of different bivalent constructions. Instead, I show that the morphosyntax of bivalent constructions in Murrinh-Patha is sensitive to the semantic features of the participants, supporting a prototype approach to transitivity (such as those proposed by Hopper and Thompson 1980 and Næss 2007).

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/sl.35.3.08nor

Publication date: 2011-01-01

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• International Journal sponsored by the Foundation "Foundations of Language"

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