Re: THEORY: applicatives

Hallo!

Thomas Wier wrote:

> > Is this like the English:
> >
> > Peter gave Paula a book. -> Peter presented Paula with
> > a book.
>
> Not really.  Applicative constructions are valence-increasing
> devices that are generally multimorphemic.  The German example
> that Joerg gave is slightly unhelpful, since "be-" also just
> has plain causative functions which, of course, are also valency
> increasing.
Indeed, it's a bad example from a language that is not usually
described as having applicative constructions.  I wouldn't
normally describe this as an applicative construction, either;
only as "something like an applicative".  Your Meskwaki example
is much better.

Greetings,

Jörg.