Comitative Constructions in Reefs–Santa Cruz

Abstract:This paper describes and compares comitative constructions across the Reefs–Santa Cruz languages Äiwoo, Engdewu, Nalögo, and Natügu. Each of these languages shows a complex array of constructions, with considerable variation across languages both in the forms used, in which constructions are used for genuine comitative versus depictive constructions (as in I climbed with the basket, where I am climbing but the basket is not), and in which additional functions the different constructions can be extended to. At the same time, there are commonalities across the four languages, as would be expected from a low-level Oceanic subgroup such as Reefs–Santa Cruz; but the commonalities are complex and crosscut constructions and language groupings. Our historical account of this situation takes as its starting point the Proto-Oceanic comitative forms *ma, *ma-i, and *aki[ni] and assumes different grammaticalization paths and functional extensions across the languages, in particular, in Äiwoo, on the one hand, and the Santa Cruz languages, on the other. We thus contribute to disentangling the complex historical relationships within this language group, which has only fairly recently been recognized as Oceanic.