Nominalization strategies in Asian languages

Abstract

This paper examines a wide range of nominalization strategies found in Asian languages, and identifies robust grammaticalization pathways that trace the life of versatile nominalizers, particularly those that develop from light nouns and noun phrase markers such as classifiers, plural markers, demonstratives, and case markers. It also focuses on the extended uses of nominalization constructions—from referential to non-referential functions, among them adnominal (e.g. relative clause and genitive) marking, tense-aspect-mood (TAM) marking, speaker stance marking, and subordinate adverbial marking. Examples come from Sino-Tibetan, Iranian, Korean, Japanese, Austronesian, and Papuan languages.