Discourse-functional, historical, and typological aspects of applicative constructions (Haka Lai, Tibeto-Burman)

This dissertation treats three understudied aspects of applicative constructions.; Chapter 1 introduces applicative systems through illustration of the extensive family of applicatives in Haka Lai (Tibeto-Burman, Burma).; Chapter 2 discusses cross-linguistic variation in applicatives.; Chapter 3 presents a study of both-structural and discourse functions of applicatives using narrative text corpora for Haka Lai and Wolof (West Atlantic, Africa). With regard to structural function, the study considers the extent to which applicatives allow peripheral objects to occur in constructions to which they otherwise do not have access (e.g. relativization, topicalization). The investigation uses both the methods developed by Givon 1983 and those proposed by Thompson 1990 to measure the relative topicality of objects. The results show that if the construction's object is animate (e.g. benefactive applicatives), its primary function is to indicate relatively high topicality for semantically peripheral entities rather than to serve purely structural goals like relativization; such structural goals appear to be a motivation for use of an applicative if the object of the construction is inanimate (e.g. instrumental or locative applicatives).; Chapter 4 examines the diachrony of applicatives. The chapter discusses grammaticalization sources and paths for applicatives of various sorts; discourse factors are crucial in motivating their development. Other constructions which are marked by similar or identical morphology and their relationship to applicatives are also considered.; Chapter 5 surveys fifty languages with applicatives in an attempt to determine the nature and extent of correlations between different applicative system types and other structural features. The survey shows few statistically significant correlations between particular applicative types and major typological parameters (word order, head and dependent marking, and relative clause formation). The investigation reveals implicational relationships between particular applicative types: locative and circumstantial applicatives depend on the presence of other applicatives, while benefactive and instrumental/comitative applicatives do not. Also, languages with applicatives tend to have causative constructions and ergative morphological alignment.; The concluding chapter discusses the history and status of synchronic accounts of applicatives' properties in relation to the discourse-functional, historical, and typological explanations provided for these in the dissertation.