Description: This volume explores various problems in the syntax of Austronesian languages, which are found primarily in Malaysia and the Polynesian islands. Using the framework of constraint-based theories of syntax, contributors discuss the nature of these voice systems, the function of their verbal morphology, valence, verbal diathesis and transitivity in such languages, and the nature of their lexical categories. Each analysis is presented within the frameworks of lexical-functional grammar and head-driven phrase structure grammar.
Brief description: Peter K. Austin is the Marit Rausing Chair in Field Linguistics at the School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London. Simon Musgrave is a postdoctoral fellow at Monash University.