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Valency-Changing Morphology in Lakurumau, a Western Oceanic Language of Papua New Guinea
- Oceanic Linguistics
- University of Hawai'i Press
- Volume 59, Number 1/2, June/December 2020
- pp. 190-211
- 10.1353/ol.2020.0010
- Article
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Abstract:
This paper describes the valency-related morphology of Lakurumau, a previously undescribed Western Oceanic language, member of the Lavongai/Nalik language chain. The paper analyzes the function of valency-changing devices and their relation to the morphology reconstructed for Proto-Oceanic. Particular attention is dedicated to the unique phenomenon of phonetic alternations signaling (in)transitivity, as in the pair itak 'carve.intr'—itok 'carve.tr'. The unusual reflexes of Proto-Oceanic *-ani and *-akin[i], which have developed in Lakurumau into an applicative/transitivizer and a marker of intransitivity respectively, are also discussed, as well as the impersonal construction based on the suffix -an (from a possible Proto-Oceanic passive *-an). The data from Lakurumau are also compared, when possible, to those from the other Lavongai/Nalik languages.