Simple and Double Applicatives

What is it about?

Shiwilu is an example of a non-Arawak South American language with a rich applicative system. Shiwilu lacks an instrumental applicative, but instead features applicatives that are rare crosslinguistically. The suffix -tu is interesting in that it may increase or decrease the transitivity of a verb. In addition, -tu is part of what seems to be a strategy to develop new applicative constructions.

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Why is it important?

This work adds the Kawapanan family to the list of genetic groupings with rich applicative systems. Interestingly, Shiwilu lacks an instrumental applicative, which is probably the most crosslinguistically common type of applicative. On the other hand, some of the functions played by the Shiwilu applicatives are rare or maybe even unique. About half of the applicative constructiosn involve "double" applicatives.

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