Patterns of deverbal nominalization in Kaqchikel

Abstract

The paper provides an overview of productive patterns of deverbal nominalization in Kaqchikel (Mayan; ergative, VOS/SVO). Adopting the universal typology for deverbal nominals developed by J. Grimshaw, H. Borer, and K. Moulton, we demonstrate that, while in English and other well-studied languages of Europe the same morpheme is often used to create all kinds of deverbal nouns, Kaqchikel clearly disambiguates between the three cases: complex events, simple events, and result nominals. We consider in detail the core semantic and syntactic properties of the three classes of items, thus filling in a gap in the description of Mayan syntax and further contributing to the general discussion of nominalization across the world’s languages.