An undergraduate thesis by yours truly. Completed at Reed College in 2015, supervised by Professor Matt Pearson.
Abstract
Minimalist accounts of object asymmetries have focused on Indo-European and Bantu languages and have not addressed multiple applicative constructions—applicative stacking. The Austronesian language Tukang Besi has a variety of applicative constructions, including stacking, and has only been analyzed in terms of a thematic hierarchy. This thesis attempts to remedy these gaps by examining Tukang Besi applicatives through a minimalist lens, specifically through the adaptation of the high and low applicative heads introduced by Pylkk¨anen (2008). The analysis here posits three types of applicative, differentiated by the size of the complement the applicative head selects, based on certain object targeting constructions and their interaction with the three applicative morphemes as described in Donohue’s (1999) grammar of Tukang Besi: passives, object relative clauses, wh-questions, and the subject topic v. object topic or actor voice v. patient voice distinction common in the Austronesian language family.
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