Applicative Constructions in Shipibo-Konibo (Panoan)

Abstract

This article provides a detailed, typologically informed treatment of applicative constructions in Shipibo-Konibo, a Panoan language from Peruvian Amazonia. Shipibo-Konibo has three applicative suffixes: affective (i.e., benefactive or malefactive), dedicated malefactive, and associative. These applicative types are rather common cross-linguistically and hence the language cannot be said to be particularly rich either in terms of number or kinds of applicative constructions. Nevertheless, the Shipibo-Konibo system exhibits certain points of special interest such as the interplay between transitivity and the different applicative construction types, which include a restriction on the dedicated malefactive to combine with transitive verbs only, and the almost exclusively benefactive semantics of the affective when attached to transitives. Also noteworthy are the high degree of symmetry with regard to the morphosyntactic properties of base and applicative objects, obligatoriness/optionality of applicative constructions, and the semantic requirements of certain arguments.

Panoan languages and linguistics

“…Interestingly, two of the few other languages described as having this feature are Panoan neighbors, namely Yagua (Peba-Yaguan family; see Payne and Payne, 1990) and Cavineña (Takanan family; see Guillaume, 2008), suggesting that this may be another areal feature of (western) Amazonia. This characteristic of having trivalent 2013 45 FLECK: PANOAN LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS verbs with identical (or in some cases, nearly identical) nonsubject arguments has drawn interest in valence-increasing grammar in Panoan family, namely causative (Fleck 2001Valenzuela 2002a;Zariquiey 2012a) and applicative (Valenzuela 2010a;Zariquiey, in prep. a) constructions.…”

Grammatical relation in applicative construction of Asahan Malay language

“…Almost all languages in the world have an applicable construction structure. In applicative construction, the verb used is transitive (Valenzuela 2010…”

“…Construction (1) and ( 2) can be figured out as the following (Fugure 1): Recent works have also been carried out by various experts dealing with this issue. Valenzuela (2010) explores applicative construction in Shipibo-Konibo. His study also explains that in Shipibo-Konibo, there is an interplay between transitivity and the different applicative construction types.…”