Reflexivization strategies in Abaza
Peter Arkadiev1, Sonia Durneva2
1Institute of Slavic Studies RAS / 1Russian State University for the Humanities / 2National Research University Higher School of Economics
Abstract. In this article we describe reflexivization strategies in Abaza (Northwest Caucasian), a polysynthetic language characterized by consistent head marking and morphological ergativity. Abaza features three reflexivization strategies: (i) the specialized reflexive prefix čə- used to reflexivize the absolutive argument, (ii) doubling of person-number prefixes, used to reflexivize indirect objects with transitive verbs, and (iii) the lexical reflexive based on the noun ‘head’, which is able to reflexivize arguments of different types. We discuss the factors guiding the distribution of the reflexivization strategies (valency class of the verb, argument roles, and semantics) and offer a diachronic account of their coexistence.
Keywords: Abaza, reflexivization, polysynthesis
For citation: Arkadiev P., Durneva S. Reflexivization strategies in Abaza. Typology of Morphosyntactic Parameters. 2019. Vol. 2, iss. 1. Pp. 28–48. (In Rus.)