Verbalization as Re-categorization of Lexical Categories in Santali

Abstract

A well-known lexicon-syntax debate in the generative tradition concerns whether word formation occurs in the lexicon or in syntax (Bruening, 2018; Embick & Noyer, 2007). This paper builds on the idea of word formation/ categorization as a syntactic process, focusing on verbalization. In the literature that takes categorization as a syntactic process, verbalization is considered either idiosyncratic or compositional (Arad, 2003). Typological literature (Rijkhoff & van Lier, 2013; Peterson, 2011, 2010; Rau, 2013) indicates that Austro- Asiatic (AA) languages such as Santali and Kharia possess flexible verbal categorization, where a root x can behave like both a noun (N) and a verb (V), defying the N-V distinction that is found in most languages. However, I show empirical support from Santali, an AA language spoken in the Indian states of Odisha and Jharkhand, to argue that verbal categorization is a compositional syntactic process in Santali, where any root must go through a categorization process forming an N or adjective (A) before getting verbalized. Santali displays high semantic transparency in verbalization, where the verbalized items have a predictable meaning of an N or A. This paper analyzes Santali fluid verbalization and compares it with the kinds of verbalization seen in English. It also questions how re-categorization (verbalization of lexical categories, not roots) incurs a predictable meaning in the verbalized structures and which head of the structure takes care of the semantic transparency or compositionality in Santali.