From ergative to comparee marker: Multiple reanalyses and polyfunctionality

Guillaume Jacques (1)

1 CRLAO - Centre de Recherches Linguistiques sur l'Asie Orientale

This article describes the uses of the marker kɯ in Japhug, which presents many distinct functions, including ergative, instrumental, distributive, causal linker, manner linker and comparee marker in the comparative construction. A series of grammaticalization pathways, some of which have never been documented before, are proposed to account for the polyfunctionality of this marker.

Mots clés: comparative; ergative; instrumental; clause linking; adversative; distributive; Japhug

Domaines: Linguistique

Guillaume Jacques. From ergative to comparee marker: Multiple reanalyses and polyfunctionality. Diachronica, 2016, 33 (1), pp.1-30. ⟨10.1075/dia.33.1.01jac⟩. ⟨halshs-01566133⟩