Source = beneficiary

[Hilary Chappell]

Dear Seppo

a late reply to your inquiry:  this kind of polysemy is not uncommon in 
Sinitic languages; a good example being the Min dialects where the same 
morpheme can be used for beneficiary; source; patient and goal (for 
communication verbs only in the latter case) :

Fengfu _Tsao_ and  Shou-hsin _Teng_ have both written on this for 
Southern Min (the Taiwanese Hokkien dialect) and I've published an 
article on it too from an historical perspective for the same group of  
languages.  The morpheme in question is /ka7 . /The same applies for 
Hakka/ lau11 /too/

/

 

1./ /KA=Benefactive marker
/lì //       ê       saN,        i        ē   kā      lì     se/
2sg GEN clothes,  3SG  will  KA(=Ben)  2SG wash
'S/He will wash your clothes.'


2. KA = source marker

/I        beh        kā     lì           thó         chîN          o?/
3SG   want   KA   2SG       demand:back  money  PRT

'Does s/he want to get the money back from you?'




3. KA = patient marker

np_agent –  /ka – /np_object  – /        /vp* *

啊        汝        共        汝        的        氣力                攏 
        用去                啊

/a          lì          kā        lì          ê          
khùi-lat           lóng     iōng-khì          a/

prt      2sg      acc      2sg      gen      strength            
all         use-go             prt

‘You used up all your strength.’           [Jesse’s Story: 823]



best
Hilary Chappell


Seppo Kittilä a écrit :

>Dear Typologists,
>
>I am looking for languages in which any kind of source element (such as ablative case/adposition) would be used to code benefiaries as well. Finnish is a language in which this occurs, as the following examples show (N.B.: the ablative is only one way of coding beneficiary in Finnish, and its use is not possible for this function in all cases, but in (1) and (2) it is the most natural way of coding beneficiary):
>
>(1)     vanhempi        pes-i                       lapse-lta     käde-t
>          parent.NOM    wash-3SG.PAST   child-ABL   hand-PL
>         'A/the parent washed the child's hands (for the child)'
>(2)    hoitaja          vaihto-i                       vanhukse-lta          lakana-t
>         nurse.NOM  change-3SG.PAST  older.person-ABL sheet-PL
>         'A/the nurse changed the sheets for the older person'
>
>I have been studying beneficiaries, recipients and sources from a cross-linguistic perspective, but I have not come across another language in which cases like (1) and (2) would be possible. There are languages in which dative (or a similar case) can be used to encode recipients, sources and beneficiaries, but are there languages in which source and beneficiary (excluding recipient) receive the same formal treatment? I would be extremely grateful for any help.
>
>All the best,
>Seppo
>
>
>  
>

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