Cover not available
Part of
Lexical Polycategoriality: Cross-linguistic, cross-theoretical and language acquisition approaches
Edited by Valentina Vapnarsky and Edy Veneziano
[Studies in Language Companion Series 182] 2017
► pp. 155–174

Polycategoriality and zero derivation

Insights from Central Alaskan Yup’ik Eskimo

 | University of California, Santa Barbara
The possibility of polycategorial lexical items, unspecified for category, raises interesting issues. One is the predictability of semantic relationships between polycategorial forms in predicating and referring uses. Another is the language-internal generality of the phenomenon, whether it necessarily holds of all units at a particular level. A third is its cross-linguistic generality and potential association with certain typological features. These issues are examined with examples from a language exhibiting striking similarities to the Mayan languages for which polycategoriality has recently been argued. Central Alaskan Yup’ik Eskimo appears to show robust polycategoriality at the root, stem, word, and clause level. A closer look indicates that the story is actually more interesting, and that the universality of polycategoriality remains an open question.
Keywords: conversion, lexical category, polycategoriality, Yup’ik, zero derivation
Article outline
  • 1.Polycategoriality
  • 2.Central Alaskan Yup’ik Eskimo
    • 2.1Yup’ik roots
    • 2.2Derived stems
    • 2.3Fully inflected words
    • 2.4Earlier monocategorial proposal
  • 3.A closer look
    • 3.1Roots
    • 3.2Derived stems
    • 3.3Inflected words
  • 4.Syntax
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 1 November 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.182.06mit
References (11)
References
Jacobson, S. 1982. Types of partial nominalization in Central Yup’ik Eskimo. Etudes/Inuit/Studies 6(2): 51–59.Google Scholar
. 1984. Yup’ik Eskimo Dictionary. Fairbanks AK: Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska.Google Scholar
. 1995. A Practical Grammar of the Yup’ik Eskimo Language. Fairbanks AK: Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska.Google Scholar
Lois, X. & Vapnarsky, V. 2003. Polyvalence and Root Classes in Yucatekan Mayan Languages. Munich: Lincom.Google Scholar
Lois, X. 2010. From the roots up: Structure-building in Yucatecan languages. Ms.Google Scholar
Lois, X., Vapnarsky, V., Becquey, C. & Monod-Becquelin, A. 2010. Polycategoriality across Mayan languages: Action nouns and ergative splits. Paper presented at the International Conference on Polycategoriality , École Normale Supérieure, Paris.
Mithun, M. 2008. Dependency beyond the sentence. Language 83: 69–119. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2009. Polysynthesis in the Arctic. In Variations on Polysynthesis: The Eskimo-Aleut Languages [Typological Studies in Language 86], Marc-Antoine Mahieu & Nicole Tersis (eds), 3–18. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sadock, J. 1999. The nominalist theory of Eskimo: A case study in scientific self-deception. International Journal of American Linguistics 65(4): 383–406. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thalbitzer, W. 1911. Eskimo. In Handbook of American Indian Languages [Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 40], F. Boas (ed.), 967–1069. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution.Google Scholar
Woodbury, A. 1985. Noun, nominal sentence and clause in Central Alaskan Yupik Eskimo. In Grammar Inside and Outside the Clause, J. Nichols & A. Woodbury (eds), 61–88. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

van Lier, Eva
2017. Introduction. Studies in Language 41:2 ► pp. 241 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2021. A History of the Study of the Indigenous Languages of North America [Studies in the History of the Language Sciences, 129], DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 december 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.