[Lingtyp] Zero verb root in Papuan languages

[Claire Bowern]

The Bardi root for “give” is null. It’s historically from *wa but sound
changes deleted both the consonant and the vowel. Inflected forms such as
i-nga-na ‘3-pst-rem.past’ have no overt root.
Claire

On Tue, Feb 27, 2024 at 5:37 AM Alexandre Arkhipov via Lingtyp <
lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org> wrote:

> Dear Joe,
>
> If you do not limit yourself to the Papuan languages, zero verb roots
> should be occasionally found in many languages, I guess (although I don't
> have many examples).
> E.g. the Russian verb *вынуть *"take out" is considered to have no root
> due to historical changes (вы- is a regular prefix "out(wards)", -ну is a
> regular suffix (semelfactive), and -ть is the infinitive suffix).
> Some forms of Basque auxiliaries should probably be analyzed as having no
> root, e.g. zen (Past 3SG of the intransitive auxiliary, where both z- and
> -en appear elsewhere as past markers).
>
> All best,
> Alexandre
>
> 27/02/2024 05:26, Pun Ho Lui via Lingtyp пишет:
>
> Dear All, and 哈佬 Hilario,
>
> Thank you for all the responses.
>
> To slightly summarize (which is already claimed by Comrie and Zamponi
> 2019), the zero verb root/allomorph can be found in Trans New Guinea (e.g.
> Horokoi by Wesley Kuhron Jones). Those verbs tend to be semantically light,
> e.g. ‘hit’, ‘come’, ‘give’ and ‘be’ (e.g. Menggwa Dla).
> It also seems like such phenomenon can be found in other languages, e.g.
> Yawuru (Nyulnyulan) and Bardi in Australia, and potentially Ket.
>
> Warmest,
> Joe
>
> Pun Ho Lui <luiph001 at gmail.com> <luiph001 at gmail.com> 於 2024年2月24日 下午2:06
> 寫道：
>
> Dear All,
>
> Recently I am interested in the “zero verb root” in Papuan languages, that
> is, the meaning of the verb(s) are indicated by a root that has no
> phonological expression (Comrie and Zamponi 2019), as in (1).
>
> (1) Selepet (McElhanon 1973)
> Ø-nek-sap
> see-1sGO-3SGS.IMMPST
> 'He saw me’
>
> The Papuan languages (potentially) with zero verb root I have collected so
> far are: Abau, Abun, Coastal Marine, Edolo, Kalamang, Main, Nimboran,
> Amele, Yeri, Yima, Whitehead, Awe,Siroi, Gahuku, Bukiyip, Anêm, Kâte and
> Selepe.
>
> I am wondering do you know of other Papuan languages with this feature.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Warmest,
> Pun Ho Lui Joe
>
> References:
>
> Bernard Comrie and Raoul Zamponi. 2019. Verb Root Ellipsis. In Matthew
> Baerman, Oliver Bond, Andrew Hippisley (eds.): Morphological
> perspectives: Papers in honour of Greville G. Corbett, 233–280.
> Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
>
> McElhanon, Kenneth A. 1972. Selepet Grammar. Part 1: From Root to Phrase. Canberra:
> Pacific Linguistics.
>
>
>
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