Manner Affixes and Event Decomposition
This paper investigates how verbal affixes that encode manner information (manner affixes) interact with verbs of different lexical aspect classes and transitivity values in West Greenlandic (Inuit–Yupik–Unangan: Greenland). Manner affixes remain an understudied and poorly understood grammatical cat...
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MDPI AG
2025-02-01
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| author | Victor Bogren Svensson |
| author_facet | Victor Bogren Svensson |
| author_sort | Victor Bogren Svensson |
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| description | This paper investigates how verbal affixes that encode manner information (manner affixes) interact with verbs of different lexical aspect classes and transitivity values in West Greenlandic (Inuit–Yupik–Unangan: Greenland). Manner affixes remain an understudied and poorly understood grammatical category. The data presented and discussed here is primarily based on original fieldwork conducted in Copenhagen (Denmark) and Nuuk (Greenland). The findings show that manner affixes are interspersed among syntactic projections encoding event and argument structure, with a high degree of flexibility in terms of linear and hierarchical ordering, which correlate with differences in scope interpretation. However, this flexibility is limited by the productivity of the affixes involved, and manner affixes cannot intervene between the syntactic projections that encode the event core (the big VP in traditional generative terminology). Furthermore, manner affixes interact with verbs of different lexical aspect classes in ways similar to manner adverbs, highlighting the similarities between the two categories and the similarities between morphological structures (manner affixes) and syntactic structures (manner adverbs). |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4a09ebdbb9d442ad995bace687dc7784 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2226-471X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Languages |
| spelling | doaj-art-4a09ebdbb9d442ad995bace687dc77842025-08-20T02:11:08ZengMDPI AGLanguages2226-471X2025-02-011033510.3390/languages10030035Manner Affixes and Event DecompositionVictor Bogren Svensson0Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University, Box 201, 221 00 Lund, SwedenThis paper investigates how verbal affixes that encode manner information (manner affixes) interact with verbs of different lexical aspect classes and transitivity values in West Greenlandic (Inuit–Yupik–Unangan: Greenland). Manner affixes remain an understudied and poorly understood grammatical category. The data presented and discussed here is primarily based on original fieldwork conducted in Copenhagen (Denmark) and Nuuk (Greenland). The findings show that manner affixes are interspersed among syntactic projections encoding event and argument structure, with a high degree of flexibility in terms of linear and hierarchical ordering, which correlate with differences in scope interpretation. However, this flexibility is limited by the productivity of the affixes involved, and manner affixes cannot intervene between the syntactic projections that encode the event core (the big VP in traditional generative terminology). Furthermore, manner affixes interact with verbs of different lexical aspect classes in ways similar to manner adverbs, highlighting the similarities between the two categories and the similarities between morphological structures (manner affixes) and syntactic structures (manner adverbs).https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/10/3/35West Greenlandicmanner adverbialsmanner affixesmorphosyntax |
| spellingShingle | Victor Bogren Svensson Manner Affixes and Event Decomposition Languages West Greenlandic manner adverbials manner affixes morphosyntax |
| title | Manner Affixes and Event Decomposition |
| title_full | Manner Affixes and Event Decomposition |
| title_fullStr | Manner Affixes and Event Decomposition |
| title_full_unstemmed | Manner Affixes and Event Decomposition |
| title_short | Manner Affixes and Event Decomposition |
| title_sort | manner affixes and event decomposition |
| topic | West Greenlandic manner adverbials manner affixes morphosyntax |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/10/3/35 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT victorbogrensvensson manneraffixesandeventdecomposition |