Valency and expectation in Bantu applicatives

Abstract

Bantu applicatives are standardly analysed syntactically, as encoding a change in valency. However, in many cases applicatives do not change valency, but are rather related to a change in interpretation. In particular pragmatic functions of applicatives related to focus and emphasis are often noted in the description of individual languages, but are very rarely reflected in typological or theoretical work. To address this problem, this paper develops a pragmatic analysis of applicatives, in which applicatives signal that the action denoted by the base verb is being carried out in some way remarkably, and so differently from normal expectations about the action. Pragmatic effects are found with all uses of applicatives, and may lead to a change in valency, or not. Absence of a change in valency is found in particular with locative and instrument applicatives, while benefactive applicatives almost always entail a change in valency. This is related to the thematic hierarchy: Beneficiaries occupy a high position in the thematic hierarchy and have a strong effect on the expectedness of the action expressed. The advantage of our analysis is that it addresses both interpretational and structural aspects of applicative constructions and provides a unified explanation for them.

Building meaning in context: A dynamic approach to Bantu clause structure

“…Applicative verbs in Bantu are often analysed as licensing a new (benefactive) object argument, resulting in an increase in valency. However, Marten & Mous () note that there are also instances in which the addition of the applicative suffix does not increase the valency of the verbal base. Whilst some of the forms represent non‐productive, lexicalised verb forms, there is also a small but widely distributed class of examples which shows the productive use of an applied verb as relating to a particular pragmatic function, rather than as being related to an increase in valency.…”

“…Whilst some of the forms represent non‐productive, lexicalised verb forms, there is also a small but widely distributed class of examples which shows the productive use of an applied verb as relating to a particular pragmatic function, rather than as being related to an increase in valency. Marten (n.d.) terms this ‘concept strengthening’ whilst in subsequent work it has been noted that applicatives may signal that the action denoted by the base verb is being carried out in some way which is not in line with ‘normal’ expectations (Marten & Mous ; forthcoming). A similar observation has also been noted across Bantu more broadly (Jerro ).…”

“… The applicative suffix is traditionally described as a valency‐increasing suffix which enables the introduction of an additional argument. However, see Marten & Mous (, forthcoming) and Jerro () for an alternative account of semantics, which sees the process as more complex than simply ‘valency‐increasing’ and Marten () who proposes a DS account of non‐valency altering applicative construction. This is also discussed in additional detail in Chapter 4. …”

A Featural Typology of Bantu Agreement

“…1⁵ I leave a formal analysis of non-valency-changing applicatives as in the overview byMarten & Mous (2017) for further research.…”

Considerações tipológicas sobre transitividade em línguas bantu

“…No entanto, pretendo demonstrar que as extensões atuam na alteração de transitividade que, conforme venho expondo, tem no número de participantes apenas um de seus parâmetros. Dessa maneira, é possível que extensões aumentem ou reduzam a transitividade de determinadas construções sem que isso implique a alteração de valência verbal, conforme têm demonstrado estudos sobre questões semânticas e pragmáticas das extensões (Marten, 2003;Marten & Mous, 2017;Downing & Marten, 2019).…”