Newman, John

Typological Studies in Language Ser.

In this collection of papers twelve linguists explore a range of interesting properties of give verbs. The volume offers an in-depth look at many morphological, syntactic, and semantic properties of give verbs, including both literal and figurative senses, across languages. Topics include: an apparent zero-morpheme realisation of give in a Papuan language; noun plus causative-like suffix expressing the give concept in Nahuatl; give and other ditransitive constructions in Zulu; the complex verbal morphologies associated with give verbs in Chipewyan, Cora, and Sochiapan Chinantec; the elaborate classificatory system found with give verbs in Chipewyan and Cora; give, have and take constructions in Slavic languages; the expression of give in American Sign Language; the origin of the German "es gibt" construction; the extension of give to an adverbial marker in Thai, Khmer, and Vietnamese; the syntax and semantics of Dutch give; first language acquisition of possession terms.