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Transitivity and Polysynthesis in Fijian

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Raúl Aranovich
Raúl Aranovich*
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis
*
Department of Linguistics University of California, Davis One Shields Avenue Davis, CA 95616 [raranovich@ucdavis.edu]
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Extract

This article argues for a three-way structural characterization of Fijian objects: common nouns can be incorporated or dislocated, but pronouns and proper nouns occur inside the VP as complements. These facts support an analysis of Fijian as a polysynthetic language, since it is a pronominal argument language with incorporated objects. Having complement nominals inside the VP, however, puts Fijian outside the scope of Baker's (1996) polysynthesis parameter. The distribution of complements in Fijian follows from Hopper and Thompson's (1980) transitivity hypothesis, since only those nominals with the highest degree of individuation can occur inside the VP.

Keywords

animacydislocationincorporationobjectpolysynthesistransitivity

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 89 , Issue 3 , September 2013, pp. 465 - 500
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 Linguistic Society of America

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Footnotes

*

The data in this article were for the most part collected during fieldwork in Viti Levu in the summer of 2006, with additional material gathered in California between 2011 and 2012. I express my gratitude to Mikaele Sela, Kalivati Qolicakota, Vasiti Ritova, and Isireli Volau for their help and patience with the Fijian data. Any errors should be attributed to me. I thank France Mugler for her support, which made it possible for me to stay at the University of the South Pacific during a productive and pleasant visit. Thanks to the many people who offered comments on earlier versions of this material: Line Mikkelsen, Masha Polinsky, Eric Potsdam, Apolonia Tamata, and several anonymous referees.

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