(L/B = P). This alternation occurs with UVs semantically selecting for a locative argument L. It is attested for two UVs, the path UV walig ‘move in a circle-shaped path, move around’, and the positional dibird ‘be wound around something’. Both have in common that they semantically select for a location as well as a theme participant, and that, depending on the situation, the location can simultaneously be conceived of as a patient affected by the encirclement. In the locative alternant, the UVs combine with an intransitive IV, with L flagged by one of the spatial cases. In the “object” alternant, the UV combines with the transitive IVs ganangu ‘get/handle’ or ganima ‘hit’ (the latter in a secondary sense of “completely affect”). The operation is similar to an applicative, in that the locative is promoted to direct object status and encoded as P indexed on the verb and as absolutive object; compare the uses of dibird ‘be wound around something’ with the German near-equivalents sich wickeln (um L) and P umwickeln.
Verb Meaning | Verb form | Basic coding frame | Derived coding frame | Occurs | Comment | # Ex. | |
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