Title: Western Austronesian Applicative Constructions
Subtitle: Continuity and Change in Form and Meaning
Series Title: Endangered and Lesser-Studied Languages and Dialects
Publication Year: 2025

Publisher: De Gruyter Brill
https://www.degruyterbrill.com/?changeLang=en
Book URL: https://brill.com/display/title/72712

Author(s): Christina L. Truong

Hardback ISBN: 978-90-04-73712-9
E-book ISBN: 978-90-04-73713-6 (Open Access; downloadable at https://brill.com/display/title/72712)

Abstract:

Applicative constructions are a distinctive grammatical feature of the Austronesian languages of western Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei. Applicatives in these languages show varied syntactic and semantic properties, and are closely connected to causativization, aspectual meanings, and symmetrical voice. As a result, they do not fit neatly into 'canonincal' patterns for applicatives. This book adopts a construction-based, typologically-grounded approach, treating applicatives as pairings of form and meaning. Data from 85 languages is analyzed systematically, combining careful description with quantitative methods and extensive use of geomapping to explore the diverse properties of applicatives in this region and their diachronic development.

Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics
Morphology
Syntax
Typology

Language Family(ies): Austronesian

Written In: English (eng)