Grounding objects in space and place: locative constructions in Tidore
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Miriam van Staden
Abstract
This article discusses the contribution of the verbal element in static locative descriptions in Tidore, a Western Papuan outlier spoken in the North Moluccas of Indonesia. Where in most languages the verbal element in these constructions can be characterized as pertaining to aspects of disposition or posture of Figure or Ground, or to the topological relation between Figure and Ground, in Tidore the verbal element is one of a set of “locational” verbs. These locational verbs express the Ground space in which the Figure can be found in relation to the Deictic Center. Dispositional verbs may also be used in locative descriptions, but only in restricted contexts, requiring the expression of a human agent to bring about the locative relation.
© Walter de Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction: The typology and semantics of locative predicates: posturals, positionals, and other beasts
- Four languages from the lower end of the typology of locative predication
- ‘To sit face down’ — location and position in Goemai
- Locative construction and positionals in Trumai
- Grounding objects in space and place: locative constructions in Tidore
- Why a folder lies in the basket although it is not lying: the semantics and use of German positional verbs with inanimate Figures
- Laz positional verbs: semantics and use with inanimate Figures
- The coding of topological relations in verbs: the case of Likpe (Sεkpεlé)
- Standing divided: dispositionals and locative predications in two Mayan languages
- Publications received between 2 June 2006 and 1 June 2007
- Author index to Linguistics, volume 45, 2007
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction: The typology and semantics of locative predicates: posturals, positionals, and other beasts
- Four languages from the lower end of the typology of locative predication
- ‘To sit face down’ — location and position in Goemai
- Locative construction and positionals in Trumai
- Grounding objects in space and place: locative constructions in Tidore
- Why a folder lies in the basket although it is not lying: the semantics and use of German positional verbs with inanimate Figures
- Laz positional verbs: semantics and use with inanimate Figures
- The coding of topological relations in verbs: the case of Likpe (Sεkpεlé)
- Standing divided: dispositionals and locative predications in two Mayan languages
- Publications received between 2 June 2006 and 1 June 2007
- Author index to Linguistics, volume 45, 2007
