Skip to content
Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter Mouton 2022

15 The evolution of non-syntactic functions of applicatives: -i suffixation in Javanese and neighboring languages

From the book Applicative Morphology

  • Jozina Vander Klok and Bethwyn Evans

Abstract

Javanese, like many other Austronesian languages, has two applicative suffixes which introduce a non-actor argument as the applied phrase in the main clause. This chapter focuses on the locative applicative -i, which introduces an applied phrase with the semantic role of location, goal or recipient. Javanese -i also has a number of non-applicative functions. It has the additional syntactic function of deriving causatives by introducing an actor participant, as well as a range of non-syntactic functions, which include encoding a pluractional meaning or indicating intensity of the event or specificity of the applied phrase. This chapter describes these uses of -i suffixation in Javanese and other languages of the Western Indonesian subgroup. Comparison of locative applicative morphology across a small sample of Western Indonesian languages suggests that the non-syntactic functions of -i suffixation developed from its applicative use through the conventionalization of meanings of higher transitivity typically associated with applicative structures.

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Downloaded on 28.3.2024 from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110777949-015/pdf
Scroll to top button