A typological overview of Mwotlap

Alexandre François (1)

1 LACITO - Langues et civilisations à tradition orale

The typologist reader is presented here with an overview of the most interesting characteristics ofMwotlap, an Oceanic language of Vanuatu. After a short presentation of its phonology, its main morphosyntactic categories are described and explored from a functional angle. The construal of noun phrases reveals a cognitive asymmetry between human individuals and other referents. Nouns, just like verbs or adjectives, are predicative, and are even sensitive to tenseaspect- mood markers and actionality properties. The argument structure of a verb can regularly be affected by its modifiers. Finally, deictics can be shown to play a major role in the structuring of discourse and complex sentences.Whenever relevant, the grammar of Mwotlap is briefly compared to other languages, and assessed in the light of existing typological generalisations.

Mots clés: actionality; animacy; aspect; clause combining; deixis; Mwotlap; negation; number; incorporation; Oceanic; possession; predication; pronoun; referentiality; serial verbs; valency change; vowel harmony

Domaines: Linguistique

Alexandre François. A typological overview of Mwotlap. Linguistic Typology, 2005, 9(1), pp.115-146. ⟨halshs-00136308⟩