Increasing the valency of motion verbs: the case of the portative construction

Abstract

Abstract This paper surveys the valency-increasing constructions that apply to motion verbs in 49 genetically diverse languages. These include causative constructions, a variety of applicative constructions and the portative construction which is a valency-increasing construction that is lexically restricted to motion verbs. In the portative construction, the verb’s valency is increased by adding theme as a P-argument, but conceptually there is also an element of (co-motional) causation. However, the paper argues that the construction is neither causative nor applicative. Instead, the portative construction, which is frequent in the sample languages, should be considered a distinct type of valency-increasing construction.