From resultative to passive: A view from Northwest Caucasian

Peter Arkadiev
Institute of Slavic Studies RAS, Russian State University for the Humanities

Abstract. This paper investigates resultative constructions in the polysynthetic ergative Northwest Caucasian languages West Circassian, Kabardian and Abaza and shows that they are undergoing a development into the domain of passive. Two pathways of such development are outlined: (i) via direct extension of the resultative manifested in its compatibility with dynamic and agent-related modifiers (in all three languages); (ii) via an inceptive derivation (only in Abaza). Typological parallels to both of these from better-known European languages are discussed.

Keywords: Northwest Caucasian languages, resultative constructions, passive constructions, morphology, syntax

For citation: Arkadiev P. From resultative to passive: A view from Northwest Caucasian. Typology of Morphosyntactic Parameters. 2018. Vol. 1, iss. 1. Pp. 31–50. (In Rus.)