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Linglib.Typology.ArgumentStructure

Typology.ArgumentStructure #

@cite{maslova-nedjalkov-2013} @cite{siewierska-2013} @cite{haspelmath-2013-ditransitive} @cite{polinsky-2013-antipassive} @cite{polinsky-2013-applicative} @cite{song-2013-periphrastic} @cite{song-2013-nonperiphrastic} @cite{nordlinger-2023} @cite{konig-kokutani-2006} @cite{siloni-2008} @cite{siloni-2012}

Per-language typological substrate for valence and voice constructions, covering WALS chapters 105--111:

Mirrors the Linglib/Typology/{Possession,Negation,Comparison,Coordination, Modality,Gender,Alignment} substrate-extension pattern. Fragment-importable.

What lives here #

Theory-laden caveats #

Out of scope #

The 19-language ValenceProfile sample, cross-chapter correlations, the 47-language antipassive-alignment table (@cite{polinsky-2013-antipassive} Table 1), and Fragment-bridge theorems live in Phenomena/ArgumentStructure/Studies/Polinsky2013.lean. Pylkkänen's structural Appl typology and its WALS divergence are in Phenomena/ArgumentStructure/Studies/Pylkkanen2008.lean. Nordlinger's extended reciprocal apparatus (RecipProfile, strategy/valency correlations) is in Phenomena/ArgumentStructure/Studies/Nordlinger2023.lean.

WALS Ch 106: How reciprocal situations are encoded relative to reflexives.

The four values follow @cite{maslova-nedjalkov-2013}'s classification:

  • noDedicated: "There are no non-iconic reciprocal constructions" -- the language lacks a dedicated grammatical reciprocal marker.
  • distinctFromReflexive: "All reciprocal constructions are formally distinct from reflexive constructions" (e.g. English "each other" vs "themselves").
  • mixed: "There are both reflexive and non-reflexive reciprocal constructions" -- the language has both a reflexive-identical strategy and a formally distinct one (e.g. German "sich" + "einander"). Common in Europe.
  • identicalToReflexive: "The reciprocal and reflexive constructions are formally identical" (e.g. Imbabura Quechua "-ri", West Greenlandic "-ssin-").
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      Morphosyntactic strategy for encoding reciprocity.

      @cite{nordlinger-2023} summarizes the structural typologies of König & Kokutani (2006), Nedjalkov (2007a), and Evans (2008), which classify reciprocal constructions by the morphosyntactic locus of the reciprocal marking:

      • bipartiteNP: Bipartite quantifier NP -- English "each other", Icelandic "hvor...annad" (two independently inflected parts).
      • recipPronoun: Reciprocal pronoun -- Russian "drug druga", Hausa "jùnan-mù". Free-standing pronominal form in object position.
      • recipClitic: Reciprocal clitic -- French/Czech "se", Wambaya "-ngg-" (RR morpheme in auxiliary). Intermediate between pronoun and affix; functionally verbal (valence-reducing in most cases, though Wambaya retains bivalent syntax via ergative case).
      • verbalAffix: Morphological marking on the verb -- Swahili "-ana", Hungarian "-oz-", Chicheŵa "-an-". Derives an intransitive (monovalent) verb from a transitive base.
      • verbalAuxiliary: Reciprocal auxiliary -- Warrwa "wanji-" replaces the regular transitive auxiliary.
      • lexical: Inherently reciprocal predicate -- English "quarrel", "meet". The symmetric meaning is part of the verb's lexical semantics.
      • compoundVerb: Compound verb -- Mandarin "dǎ-lái-dǎ-qù" (beat-come-beat-go = 'beat each other').
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          Whether the strategy marks the NP/argument position (nominal strategy) or the verb/predicate (verbal strategy). König & Kokutani (2006)'s primary typological distinction.

          Clitics are classified as non-nominal: Evans (2008) treats them as intermediate, but their valence behavior is typically verbal -- French/Czech "se" reduces valence (monovalent), and even Wambaya "-ngg-" is morphologically bound to the auxiliary.

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            Valency effect of reciprocal construction on the base predicate.

            Maslova (2008) distinguishes "unary" and "binary" reciprocals; @cite{nordlinger-2023} discusses how NP/argument strategies tend to preserve valency while verb-marked strategies tend to reduce it. The correlation is a tendency, not absolute -- Malagasy verb-marked reciprocals retain full valency at f-structure (Hurst 2006, 2012).

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                Where reciprocal verbs are formed, per Siloni (2008, 2012).

                @cite{nordlinger-2023} discusses Siloni's distinction:

                • lexical: formed in the lexicon through "bundling" -- two thematic roles (agent, patient) merge into a single complex role. Produces verbs with inherently symmetric semantics. Can license discontinuous reciprocal constructions (subject + comitative argument).
                • syntactic: formed in the syntax via an operation that creates the symmetric reading. Cannot license discontinuous reciprocals.

                Key empirical prediction: discontinuous reciprocals ("John kissed with Mary") are possible only with lexically-formed reciprocal verbs.

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                    Can the reciprocal construction appear in discontinuous form (reciprocants split across subject and comitative argument)? @cite{nordlinger-2023} §3.3.

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                      WALS Ch 107: Whether a language has passive constructions.

                      Siewierska defines a passive as having five properties: (i) contrasts with active, (ii) active subject demoted or suppressed, (iii) active object promoted to subject (if personal passive), (iv) pragmatically restricted, (v) special verbal morphology. Includes both personal and impersonal passives, both synthetic (Swahili -w-) and periphrastic (English "be + past participle", Polish zostac + participle).

                      • present: The language has at least one passive construction.
                      • absent: No passive construction (agent demotion achieved by other means: subject omission, impersonal pronoun, 3pl verb form, etc.).
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                          WALS Ch 108: Antipassive construction type.

                          An antipassive is a derived detransitivized construction: the patient-like argument is either suppressed or demoted to an oblique. The term indicates the mirror image of the passive: in the passive the agent is demoted, in the antipassive the patient.

                          • implicitPatient: Patient-like argument left implicit (unexpressed).
                          • obliquePatient: Patient-like argument expressed as oblique complement (e.g. Chukchi instrumental kimitw-e in antipassive vs absolutive kimitw-xn in transitive).
                          • noAntipassive: No antipassive construction.
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                              WALS Ch 108 inset map: Productivity of the antipassive.

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                                  Morphological alignment system (simplified for antipassive correlation). The canonical accusative/ergative dichotomy lives in Core.AlignmentFamily; this file uses that type directly rather than re-declaring it. A richer typology (active-stative, tripartite, hierarchical, etc.) is available in Typology.Alignment.AlignmentType.

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                                    WALS Ch 105: How ditransitive verbs (prototypically 'give') encode the recipient (R) and theme (T) arguments relative to the monotransitive patient (P).

                                    • indirectObject: R is treated differently from P (R gets a preposition or dative case: "give the book TO Mary").
                                    • doubleObject: R is treated the same as P (both bare NPs: "give Mary the book").
                                    • secondaryObject: T is treated differently from P (T gets special marking: Ainu, Lakhota).
                                    • mixed: More than one construction type is available.
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                                        WALS Ch 109: Transitivity of the base verb for applicative formation.

                                        • bothBases: Applicatives formed from both transitive and intransitive bases (most common pattern when applicatives exist).
                                        • transitiveOnly: Only from transitive bases.
                                        • intransitiveOnly: Only from intransitive bases (rare: Fijian, Wambaya).
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                                            WALS Ch 109: Semantic role of the applied object.

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                                                WALS Ch 109: Full applicative type combining base and role. none for languages without applicative constructions.

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                                                    WALS Ch 110: Periphrastic causative type.

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                                                        WALS Ch 111: Nonperiphrastic (morphological/compound) causative type.

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                                                            A cross-linguistic valence/voice profile for a single language.

                                                            Covers WALS Ch 106--109 directly, plus Ch 111 causative morphology for the applicative-causative correlation. Ch 110 (periphrastic causatives) is omitted from profiles since most WALS sources do not report it.

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                                                                  Convert WALS 109A value to ApplicativeType. The WALS enum encodes base-transitivity and semantic role together; we decompose into ApplicativeBase × AppliedObjectRole.

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                                                                    Ch 107: more than a third of WALS-sampled languages have a passive.

                                                                    Ch 108: in @cite{polinsky-2013-antipassive}'s sample, more languages have oblique-patient antipassives than implicit-patient antipassives, and the majority have no antipassive at all.

                                                                    Ch 111: morphological causatives appear in more than 80% of WALS-sampled languages (~90% in @cite{song-2013-nonperiphrastic}'s tally). This dwarfs periphrastic causatives in frequency.

                                                                    Ch 106: @cite{nordlinger-2023} reports that of the 175 languages in @cite{maslova-nedjalkov-2013}'s sample, polysemous reflexive/reciprocal constructions are present in 60 (34%). In WALS terms, polysemy corresponds to Values 3 (mixed) and 4 (identical to reflexive).