8. Reciprocal constructions in Mah Meri
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Nicole Kruspe
Abstract
This paper provides an account of reciprocal constructions in Mah Meri, an Aslian (Austroasiatic) language spoken in peninsular Malaysia. A brief outline of the relevant grammatical points is provided before turning to examine the two constructions identified. The ‘bare conjunct’ construction centres on a small class of ‘naturally reciprocal’ verbs where the participants are encoded as a single NP. The typologically unique ‘double distributive’ construction is used with all other semantically appropriate verbs and encodes the two participants separately, but with the same form. It emerges that in Mah Meri reciprocal constructions are only used for situations of strict reciprocity where the event is symmetrical, constant, and saturated
Abstract
This paper provides an account of reciprocal constructions in Mah Meri, an Aslian (Austroasiatic) language spoken in peninsular Malaysia. A brief outline of the relevant grammatical points is provided before turning to examine the two constructions identified. The ‘bare conjunct’ construction centres on a small class of ‘naturally reciprocal’ verbs where the participants are encoded as a single NP. The typologically unique ‘double distributive’ construction is used with all other semantically appropriate verbs and encodes the two participants separately, but with the same form. It emerges that in Mah Meri reciprocal constructions are only used for situations of strict reciprocity where the event is symmetrical, constant, and saturated
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- 1. Introduction 1
- 2. The semantics of reciprocal constructions across languages 29
- 3. Semantics of Khoekhoe reciprocal constructions 61
- 4. Reciprocal constructions in English 75
- 5. Reciprocal constructions in Indo-Pakistani Sign Language 91
- 6. Mundari reciprocals 115
- 7. Description of reciprocal situations in Lao 129
- 8. Reciprocal constructions in Mah Meri 149
- 9. The coding of reciprocal events in Jahai 163
- 10. Reciprocals in Yélî Dnye, the Papuan language of Rossel Island 177
- 11. Reciprocals in Rotokas 195
- 12. Expression of reciprocity in Savosavo 213
- 13. To have and have not 225
- 14. Strategies for encoding reciprocity in Mawng 233
- 15. Reciprocal-marked and marked reciprocal events in Kuuk Thaayorre 251
- 16. Reciprocal constructions in Olutec 265
- 17. Reciprocal constructions in Tsafiki 277
- 18. Reciprocal constructions in Hup 315
- 19. Reciprocals and semantic typology 329
- Addresses 341
- Index 343
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- 1. Introduction 1
- 2. The semantics of reciprocal constructions across languages 29
- 3. Semantics of Khoekhoe reciprocal constructions 61
- 4. Reciprocal constructions in English 75
- 5. Reciprocal constructions in Indo-Pakistani Sign Language 91
- 6. Mundari reciprocals 115
- 7. Description of reciprocal situations in Lao 129
- 8. Reciprocal constructions in Mah Meri 149
- 9. The coding of reciprocal events in Jahai 163
- 10. Reciprocals in Yélî Dnye, the Papuan language of Rossel Island 177
- 11. Reciprocals in Rotokas 195
- 12. Expression of reciprocity in Savosavo 213
- 13. To have and have not 225
- 14. Strategies for encoding reciprocity in Mawng 233
- 15. Reciprocal-marked and marked reciprocal events in Kuuk Thaayorre 251
- 16. Reciprocal constructions in Olutec 265
- 17. Reciprocal constructions in Tsafiki 277
- 18. Reciprocal constructions in Hup 315
- 19. Reciprocals and semantic typology 329
- Addresses 341
- Index 343
