Construction of Meaning Workshop

WHEN RECIPROCITY GOES WITHOUT SAYING: EVENT TYPICALITY AND RECIPROCAL CODING IN THUUK THAAYORRE

Alice Gaby
University of California-Berkeley

Saturday, January 20, 3:30 PM MJH Rm 126

Kuuk Thaayorre possesses five distinct constructions that may overtly signal reciprocity in an event. My focus here, however, is on the role of non-reciprocal clauses as a valid means of encoding reciprocal event types. I propose that event typicality is a critical factor in determining whether speakers employ a reciprocal or non-reciprocal construction in describing these events. Where the event described approaches the norm for the verb in question, overt reciprocal coding is usually omitted. Where the event described is atypical of the events usually described by that verb, overt reciprocal coding is strongly preferred. As a result, the most common semantically reciprocal event types (e.g. kissing, fighting, conversing) are those least likely to receive reciprocal coding. I conclude by considering the broader implications of this for the cross-linguistic investigation of semantic and syntactic categories.