Associated motion in Tungusic languages: a case of mixed argument structure
Brigitte Pakendorf (DDL) & Natalia Stoynova (Vinogradov Institute of Russian, RAS, Moscow)
The languages of South America and Australia are known for their morphologically and semantically elaborate systems of Associated Motion (AM). In contrast, the five Tungusic languages discussed here, which belong to the Northern and the Southern branch of the family, have only a single suffix pertaining to this category. This morpheme expresses mainly andative meanings, although ventive readings are also possible, with the motion event preceding the verb event.
The cross-linguistically most striking feature of AM in the Tungusic languages is the fact that not only base verb arguments can be expressed, but so can motion arguments. We explore the argument structure of verbs marked with the AM-suffix in detail and find that both formal considerations (a preference for only one overt argument) and pragmatic considerations (the choice to foreground the motion argument over the verb argument) play a role in which argument(s) get expressed.