The applicative in ciLubà grammar and discourse: A semantic goal analysis

Abstract

This paper focuses on the applicative construction in ciLubà (L31a), a Bantu language from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Applicative constructions usually promote a participant otherwise encoded as a thematically peripheral argument or adjunct to the status of core argument of the verb. The thus promoted participant, that is the ‘applied object’, is most commonly associated with the semantic role of beneficiary. However, this widespread meaning is not necessarily the core meaning, neither in ciLubà nor in other Bantu languages. In this paper, goal is claimed to be the underlying function of the applicative in ciLubà, as evidenced by double applicative constructions, applicatives in connective constructions and transit or intermediary goal constructions. Not only grammatical evidence points towards goal as the underlying core meaning, but also the informationstructural role the applicative plays in ciLubà locative constructions.

Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 2012, 30(1): 101–124