The benefactive construction in Moulmein Sgaw Karen

Abstract

It ts generally recognized that the Karen languages are tonal S-V-O languages belonging to the Tibeto-Burman family (Benedict 1976; Shafer 1974: Weidert 1987). Sgaw Karen. the language investigated in this analysis. represents the largest subgroup within Karenic (Jones 1961:v) with sizeable populations living in both Burma and Thailand. This paper examines the syntactic and semantic features of the benefactive construction in Sgaw Karen with exponent ne2 (<'get.) which contains three core participants: the agent, undergoer and beneficiary (or recipient).