Abstract

Diverse evidence from Bardi and other Australian languages is used here to argue for a multifunctional view of complex predication, one which includes event classification but is not limited to it. These data bear directly on the question of whether complex predicate formation involves the transfer of arguments from the light verb to the preverb, or whether complex predicates are better analysed as a unification of preverb and light verb. The multifunctionality of the construction, as well as the syntax of Bardi and other languages, provides arguments against the argument transfer analysis.