Causation as "Functional Sink" in Northern Paiute

Document Type

Contribution to Books

Publication Date

2013

Abstract

Two morphological constructions operate within the broad, functional domain of causation in Northern Paiute (Numic; Uto-Aztecan). One, the instrumental prefix construction, indicates the means or manner by which some action is carried out by characterizing features associated with instruments. Syntactically, like a morphological causative, this results in the addition of an agent to the valence profile in the derivation. Another, the applicative construction, also functions as a morphological causative in the context of a subset of stative intransitive verbs. The distinct pathways of grammaticalization are explored in this paper by proposing a set of communicative-functional pressures, resulting from the loss of an older causative construction, to fill the domain of causation.

Comments

This book is a part of the series Typological Studies in Language, vol. 103.

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