Wambaya reciprocals

Wambaya marks reflexivity and reciprocity with the clitic -ngg- (glossed RR) in the object position of the second-position auxiliary: Alag-bulu wurlu-ngg-a nyurrunyurru 'The two children are chasing each other', an example of Nordlinger's from her grammar. Though it looks like a reflexive or reciprocal object pronoun such as Warlpiri -nyanu, Evans, Gaby and Nordlinger show that the clause is intransitive: the subject noun phrase is nominative rather than ergative, a controlled complement takes the subject-control form, and -ngg- also occurs with semi-transitive verbs, whose objects the auxiliary never cross-references. It is a valency-reducing marker of the predicate, not an argument.

References

• R. Nordlinger, The Typology of Reciprocal Constructions (2023)
• R. Nordlinger, A grammar of Wambaya, Northern Territory (Australia) (1998)
• N. Evans, A. Gaby and R. Nordlinger, Valency Mismatches and the Coding of Reciprocity in Australian Languages (2007)

def Wambaya.Reciprocals.rr : Reciprocal.Marker

The clitic -ngg- is a reciprocal marker, reflexive as well; it marks the predicate and fills no object slot. Its surface allomorphs vary with the paradigm of the auxiliary.

Equations

• Wambaya.Reciprocals.rr = { morphs := [Morphology.Morph.suff "ngg"], strategy := Reciprocal.Strategy.recipClitic, readings := {Reciprocal.Reading.reciprocal, Reciprocal.Reading.reflexive} }

def Wambaya.Reciprocals.markers : Finset Reciprocal.Marker

The marker inventory.

Equations

• Wambaya.Reciprocals.markers = {Wambaya.Reciprocals.rr}