The Development of “Applicative” Constructions
in Western Austronesian Languages:
Toward a Comparison and Reconstruction
KIKUSAWA Ritsuko
(ritsuko@minpaku.ac.jp)
National Museum of Ethnology, Japan
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Japan
Typological analysis and classification are inevitable for the historical comparison and reconstruction of morphosyntactic characteristics of languages, however, it is well recognised by both typologists and historical linguists that mere pattern comparison can often lead us to wrong conclusions. In this presentation, using on-going work on the historical comparison of applicative constructions in Austronesian languages, I will demonstrate how we can integrate pattern comparison with lexical reconstruction. Key morphemes (that are reconstructed applying the comparative method) are used here as indices for identifying the paths of structural change. How terminology and definition can cause problems in an approach to morphosyntactic reconstruction will also be addressed.