Ditransitividad morfológicatipología y definición de las construcciones aplicativas

Abstract

This paper deals with the semantic and syntactic properties of benefactive applicatives from a crosslinguistic perspective. Applicatives are bound morphemes attached to a verb or an auxiliary that are employed to code a non-subcategorized argument as a core argument. In this paper, I will intent to demonstrate that application is not exactly a transitivizing or increasing valence process, but a rule by which the assignation of the undergoer is rewritten. In particular, I will propose a possible classification of applicatives in two different types: modifiers of the semantic valence, on the one hand, and modifiers of the syntactic valence, on the other. In this classification, I will follow some of the principles developed in Van Valin and LaPolla (1997) and Van Valin (2005), such as the notions of semantic and syntactic transitivity, and the selection of the undergoer.