Complex verbs in Bohairic Coptic

Abstract

Abstract This chapter discusses second argument markers in Bohairic Coptic complex verbs constructed with the light verbser‑‘do, make’ andti-‘give’ and typically used to integrate verbal borrowings from Greek. The question is examined if Coptic argument marking can be considered a replica of Greek valency patterns. Enhancement of already existing marking strategies seems more plausible, however, whereby the rise of complex verbs has contributed to a radical restructuring of the transitivity system in Coptic. Two competing subsystems of transitivity are distinguished: a recessive one characterized by head marking and emphasis on the discriminating function of case and a productive one in which the characterizing function of case becomes prominent thanks to dependent marking by means of a preposition.

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