Work

Syntax in morphological guise: Interrogative verbal morphology in Abaza

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: Abaza, a polysynthetic ergative Northwest Caucasian language, possesses a typologically unique system of forming content questions by means of inflectional marking in the verb. I offer a detailed description of this peculiar system, showing how it is grounded in the more general pattern of encoding relativization by means of prefixes forming part of the basic cross-referencing paradigms. I also discuss a tentative diachronic scenario, explaining how at least a subpart of the synthetic interrogative marking in Abaza (and its close relative Abkhaz) could have emerged via univerbation of pseudocleft focus constructions.

Source: Linguistic Typology

DOI: 10.1515/lingty-2020-5004

Author: Peter M. Arkadiev

Institutions: Russian State University for the Humanities, Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Slavic Studies

Language: English

Topic: Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

Subfield: Language and Linguistics

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: Russian Science Foundation, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russian Academy of Sciences

OpenAlex ID: W3060031277

FWCI: 39.95

Cites: 43

Cited by: 37

Related to: 10