The Linguistics of Giving

Book excerpt: 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.