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This book presents the first systematic typological analysis of
applicatives across African, American Indian, and East Asian
languages. It is also the first to address their functions in
discourse, the derivation of their semantic and syntactic
properties, and how and why they have changed over time.
Applicative constructions are typically described as transitivizing
because they allow an intransitive base verb to have a direct
object. The term originates from the seventeenth-century missionary
grammars of Uto-Aztecan languages. Constructions designated as
prepositional, benefactive, and instrumental may refer to the same
or similar phenomena. Applicative constructions have been deployed
in the development of a range of syntactic theories which have then
often been used to explain their functions, usually within the
context of Bantu languages. Dr Peterson provides a wealth of
cross-linguistic information on discourse-functional, diachronic,
and typological aspects of applicative constructions. He documents
their unexpected synchronic variety and the diversity of diachronic
sources about them. He argues that many standard assumptions about
applicatives are unfounded, and provides a clear guide for future
language-specific and cross-linguistic research and analysis.
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