Jaminjung Simple and Complex Predicates in a Cross-linguistic Perspective

In this thesis, I have investigated the properties of simple and complex verbs in Jaminjung and Ngaliwurru, two varieties of a typologically unusual Australian language. Its unusual characteristic is that two distinct lexical categories take over the functions that verbs have in most other languages. One of these is a closed class consisting of only 30 members or so. Since these roots take verbal inflections, they were identified as verbs proper or ‘generic verbs’ (§2.4). These verbs may constitute predicates on their own in a finite clause (§3.1). The other class consists of uninflecting predicative elements, termed ‘coverbs’ (§2.3). Coverbs may function as the sole predicate only in non-finite clauses, which are either subordinated by means of a case marker (§2.6.5), or semi-independent, but stylistically marked and highly dependent on contextual information in their interpretation (§3.4). The main function of coverbs is the formation of complex verbs, together with a generic verb. In canonical complex verbs (§3.2), one or sometimes two unmarked coverb(s) combine with a verb in a single intonation unit. Some additional constructions consist of a verb and a marked coverb, among them a highly productive progressive construction (§3.3). The most interesting consequence of this ‘division of labour’ between coverbs and generic verbs is that the verbs can be shown to categorise events: Since a verb from a closed class is obligatory in every finite clause (either as a simple verb or as part of a complex verb), all event expressions are sorted into a small number of categories by the choice of verb (§5.1).