The History of Micronesian Possessive Classifiers and Benefactive Marking in Oceanic Languages

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to shed light on the controversy over the history of Micronesian possessive classifiers: continuity (Pawley 1973, Lichtenberk 1988) vs. discontinuity (Harrison 1988) between the possessive classifier system in POc and those in contemporary Micronesian languages. It is demonstrated that the difficulties which Harrison (1988) attributes directly to the continuity view in favor of the discontinuity view do not dissipate but rather must also be dealt with in the latter view, albeit in a different time frame. In the absence of direct evidence in support of either of the two conflicting views, a survey of benefactive marking in other Oceanic languages is carried out to reveal that the exploitation of the possessive classifier system for benefactive marking is widely distributed. So much so, in fact that it must be regarded as a POc feature. This, along with the fact that the possessive classifier system is also utilized to mark benefactive nominals in certain Micronesian languages, calls the discontinuity view into serious question, because it is very difficult to claim that the possessive classifier system in the Micronesian languages in question was recruited back into service for benefactive marking when or after it had been rebuilt from scratch. It is much simpler, and indeed makes more sense, to take the position that the Micronesian languages simply retained the POc feature: the exploitation of the possessive classifier system for benefactive marking. It is concluded, therefore, that they must likewise have inherited the POc possessive classifier system.