Leiden University Student Repository

Janson, Kirsten (2017)

Covered in be's: A mini typological study of nonverbal predicates in the languages of native North America

Bachelor thesis | Taalwetenschap (BA)

This is a mini typological study of predicate nominals, predicate adjectives and locative predicates, existentials and possessive predicates in seven native North American languages. This study discusses per language the strategies used for predicate nominals according to the typological overview given in Payne (1997); where adjectives are a separate word class the strategies for predicate adjectives are compared to those for predicate nominals. Lastly, the constructions for locative clauses, existentials, and locative predicates and the relations between them are discussed according to Clark (1978). It was found that some strategy types for predicate nominals were much more common than others and predicate adjectives, where applicable, were usually constructed in the same way. Locative constructions, existentials, and locative predicates were not always formed nonverbally, but a relationship between them was often found.

existential

native north america

typology

predicate nominal

predicate locative

predicate possessive

Author

Janson, Kirsten

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

BA Descriptive Linguistics

Supervisors

Crevels, E.I. (Mily)

ECTS Credits

10

Language

en