Åshild Næss

Næss, Åshild. 2025. Voice and transitivity in Äiwoo and Engdewu: a case study in alignment change. Studies in Language 49:1, 158-193. 

Sauppe, Sebastian, Åshild Næss, Giovanni Roversi, Martin Meyer, Ina Bornkessel-Schlesewsky og Balthasar Bickel. 2023. An agent-first preference in a patient-first language during sentence comprehension. Cognitive Science 47:9. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.13340

Næss, Åshild. 2017. A short dictionary of Äiwoo. Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics. Online open access:  https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/112469

Næss, Åshild, og Even Hovdhaugen. 2011. A grammar of Vaeakau-Taumako. Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton.

Næss, Åshild. 2007. Prototypical transitivity. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.  

Ross, Malcolm, og Åshild Næss. 2007. An Oceanic origin for Äiwoo, the language of the Reef Islands? Oceanic Linguistics 46: 2, 456-498.

• Holmen, Sindre Sperre & Næss, Åshild (2025). Voice choice in Äiwoo and the symmetrical voice-to-transitivity shift. Oceanic Linguistics. ISSN 0029-8115. 64(1), s. 1–45. doi: 10.1353/ol.2025.a960252. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This paper examines the factors that influence the choice between actor voice and undergoer voice in the Oceanic language Äiwoo from two perspectives: a quantitative study comparing 80 actor-voice clauses with 80 undergoer-voice clauses and a qualitative study looking at all occurrences of actor voice in the available data. The results show, on the one hand, that the factors influencing voice choice in Äiwoo largely overlap with those described for symmetrical voice languages in the western Austronesian region. On the other hand, the usage patterns of the actor voice also show affinities with the transitivity alternations found in canonical Oceanic languages: the undergoer voice is by far the most frequent in discourse, suggesting that it may be on its way to being reanalyzed as the default transitive construction, and the predominant context for the use of the actor voice is with an undergoer argument that is low in referentiality, similar to the contexts that favor “semi-transitive” constructions in many Oceanic languages. The Äiwoo data thus point to a possible path of reanalysis from a symmetrical voice system to an Oceanic-type system of transitivity alternations.

• Næss, Åshild & Sauppe, Sebastian (2025). Bringing psycholinguistics to the field: experiences from Solomon Islands. Language Documentation & Conservation. 19, s. 99–119. doi: https:/hdl.handle.net/10125/74816. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  The world’s linguistic diversity is severely underrepresented in research on cognitive and neural aspects of language processing, with great consequences for our understanding of the relationship between language, cognition, and the human brain. The practical challenges of carrying out neurophysiological (but also behavioral) experiments under fieldwork conditions is one factor that contributes to this lack of diversity, and meeting them necessarily requires the integration of experimental work in a larger descriptive and documentary context. This paper discusses these challenges and how they may be met, based on the authors’ experiences in carrying out an EEG study on sentence comprehension in Solomon Islands. It argues that reconciling the requirements of experimental studies with those of working with speech communities in the field is certainly challenging, but can be achieved with coordination and a realistic assessment of the resources required. Moreover, while field-based experimental research should not compete with descriptive and documentary linguistic work as a means of supporting a community in maintaining and developing their language, it can be beneficial in promoting a sense of the value of the language that is not based on its status as endangered, but rather on its specific linguistic features that contribute to insight into human language more generally.

• Næss, Åshild (2024). Voice and transitivity in Äiwoo and Engdewu: A case study in alignment change. Studies in Language. ISSN 0378-4177. 49(1), s. 158–193. doi: 10.1075/sl.23034.nae. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Sauppe, Sebastian; Næss, Åshild; Roversi, Giovanni; Meyer, Martin; Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, Ina & Bickel, Balthasar (2023). An Agent-First Preference in a Patient-First Language During Sentence Comprehension. Cognitive Science. ISSN 0364-0213. 47(9). doi: 10.1111/cogs.13340. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Abstract The language comprehension system preferentially assumes that agents come first during incremental processing. While this might reflect a biologically fixed bias, shared with other domains and other species, the evidence is limited to languages that place agents first, and so the bias could also be learned from usage frequency. Here, we probe the bias with electroencephalography (EEG) in Äiwoo, a language that by default places patients first, but where sentence‐initial nouns are still locally ambiguous between patient or agent roles. Comprehenders transiently interpreted nonhuman nouns as patients, eliciting a negativity when disambiguation was toward the less common agent‐initial order. By contrast and against frequencies, human nouns were transiently interpreted as agents, eliciting an N400‐like negativity when the disambiguation was toward patient‐initial order. Consistent with the notion of a fixed property, the agent bias is robust against usage frequency for human referents. However, this bias can be reversed by frequency experience for nonhuman referents.

• Næss, Åshild (2023). Voice and Pluractionality in Äiwoo. Oceanic Linguistics. ISSN 0029-8115. 62(1), s. 47–80. doi: 10.1353/ol.2023.0001. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This paper examines the uses of the prefix e- (ve-) in Äiwoo, an Oceanic language of the Temotu subgroup. It argues that the functions of this prefix can be subsumed under the label pluractionality, and that it is a likely reflex of the Proto-Oceanic prefix *paRi-. However, the distribution of the Äiwoo pluractional prefix is unusual in that it most common by far with intransitive position verbs; it can also occur on transitive verbs, but this is infrequent in the available data. This paper argues that this distribution is linked to the fact that Äiwoo has a distinct transitive actor voice which covers many of the typical pluractional functions with transitives. This is particularly clear when one compares Äiwoo (v)e- to its likely cognate (v)ö- in the Santa Cruz languages, which only applies to transitive verbs with detransitivizing functions; many of the functions of SC (v)ö- are covered by the actor voice in Äiwoo. The fact that Äiwoo appears to retain both a reflex of *paRi- and an actor voice/undergoer voice distinction may provide new perspectives on the history of *paRi-, since most Oceanic languages have lost the voice distinction; this may have led to an expansion of the functions of *paRi-, as suggested by the comparison between Äiwoo and the Santa Cruz languages.

• Næss, Åshild; Alfarano, Valentina; Boerger, BH & Vaa, Anders (2023). Comitative Constructions in Reefs–Santa Cruz. Oceanic Linguistics. ISSN 0029-8115. 62(1), s. 81–116. doi: 10.1353/ol.2023.0002. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This paper describes and compares comitative constructions across the Reefs–Santa Cruz languages Äiwoo, Engdewu, Nalögo, and Natügu. Each of these languages shows a complex array of constructions, with considerable variation across languages both in the forms used, in which constructions are used for genuine comitative versus depictive constructions (as in I climbed with the basket, where I am climbing but the basket is not), and in which additional functions the different constructions can be extended to. At the same time, there are commonalities across the four languages, as would be expected from a low-level Oceanic subgroup such as Reefs–Santa Cruz; but the commonalities are complex and crosscut constructions and language groupings. Our historical account of this situation takes as its starting point the Proto-Oceanic comitative forms *ma, *ma-i, and *aki[ni] and assumes different grammaticalization paths and functional extensions across the languages, in particular, in Äiwoo, on the one hand, and the Santa Cruz languages, on the other. We thus contribute to disentangling the complex historical relationships within this language group, which has only fairly recently been recognized as Oceanic.

• Næss, Åshild (2022). Binominals in Äiwoo: Compounds, possessive constructions, and transitional cases. I Pepper, Steve; Masini, Francesca & Mattiola, Simone (Red.), Binominal Lexemes in Cross-Linguistic Perspective Towards a Typology of Complex Lexemes. De Gruyter Mouton. ISSN 9783110640878. s. 181–212. doi: 10.1515/9783110673494-006. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This paper discusses the strategies used for the formation of binominal lexemes in the Oceanic language Äiwoo, and the semantic properties associated with the different strategies. The strategies include compounds in which the elements may be independent or bound, as well as various constructions involving possessive marking; the semantic principles differentiating between the various available constructions include relationality, control over the relation, and animacy of the possessor. Moreover, the paper shows how reanalysis of certain constructions may lead to new types or transitional cases, such as bound nouns in compounds acquiring classifier-like properties, or person-marked prepositions being accreted onto nouns as bound possessive marking. The paper also discusses the status of so-called indirect possessive constructions within a typology of binominal constructions and suggests that there may be more to learn about binominal typology by examining in greater detail cases where possessor indexing plays a central role in the formation of binominals.

• Næss, Åshild (2021). Voice and valency morphology in Äiwoo. Oceanic Linguistics. ISSN 0029-8115. 60(1), s. 160–198. doi: 10.1353/ol.2021.0005. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This paper describes the function and distribution of the main morphological markers of voice and valency in the Oceanic language Äiwoo: the undergoervoice suffixes -i, -nyi(i), -ive, -eâ, and -nâ, and the circumstantial voice clitic =Cä. It compares these functions and distributions to those reconstructed for the Proto-Oceanic transitivizing morphemes *-i and *akin[i], and suggests pathways of change that can account for many of the present-day Äiwoo forms as being reflexes of these morphemes and of the 3sg object clitic *=a, though some of the formal differentiation remains unexplained. This analysis implies that Äiwoo has a Philippine-type symmetrical voice system with Oceanic morphology, an unusual state of affairs which has implications for our understanding of the transition from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian to Proto-Oceanic.

• Næss, Åshild (2021). Äiwoo wâtu and the typology of comparatives. Studies in Language. ISSN 0378-4177. 45(4), s. 938–967. doi: 10.1075/sl.20022.nae. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This paper examines a comparative construction in the Oceanic language Äiwoo and argues that it differs from those known in the typological literature on comparatives on two counts. It is similar to a so-called ‘exceed’ comparative in involving a morpheme meaning ‘go far’; but unlike canonical exceed comparatives, the construction is intransitive, and the standard of comparison is expressed as an oblique. Moreover, the standard is indicated not only by this oblique phrase but also by a directional marker on the verb, in an extension of the frequent use of directionals in Äiwoo to indicate peripheral participants. This construction thus, on the one hand, expands the established typology of comparative constructions; and on the other, shows that the use of directional morphemes to indicate peripheral participants, otherwise attested e.g. for recipients of give verbs, may extend to the standard in comparative constructions, pointing to an avenue for further typological exploration.

• Næss, Åshild (2020). Bidirectional borrowing of grammar and lexicon: the case of the Reef Islands. I Grant, Anthony P. (Red.), The Oxford Handbook of Language Contact. Oxford University Press. ISSN 9780199945092. s. 627–642. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199945092.013.28. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2020). Looking for words in the Reef Islands: bound roots in Äiwoo and their descriptive and documentary challenge. I Leblic, Isabelle & Souag, Lameen (Red.), Du terrain á la théorie: les 40 ans de Lacito. Lacito Publications. ISSN 9782490768011. s. 199–220. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Roversi, Giovanni & Næss, Åshild (2019). Jespersen in the Reef islands: Single versus bipartite negation in Äiwoo. Oceanic Linguistics. ISSN 0029-8115. 58(2), s. 324–352. doi: 10.1353/ol.2019.0011. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  In this paper, we discuss the properties of negation in the Oceanic language Äiwoo. Like many Melanesian languages, Äiwoo has a bipartite negation construction; more unusually, this construction contrasts with a simple negation construction involving only the first morpheme of the bipartite negation, which typically has the reading ‘not yet’. We account for this situation by arguing that the second part of the bipartite negation originates in a morpheme indicating that the verbal action is unachieved; and that the absence of this morpheme, even after the bipartite negation grammaticalized as the standard negation construction, is typically interpreted as meaning that the event, though unachieved at present, may still take place at some later stage. We further discuss scope effects related to the second negative morpheme as a possible explanation for the cases where single negation does not get the reading ‘not yet’. Finally, we argue that Äiwoo shows a variation on Jespersen’s cycle not previously discussed in the literature, where the original single negation construction is not lost in the process of grammaticalization, but is rather reinterpreted as indicating what we call ‘weakened negation’ in contrast to the new double-marked construction.

• Næss, Åshild (2018). Beyond roots and affixes: Äiwoo deverbal nominals and the typology of bound lexical morphemes. Studies in Language. ISSN 0378-4177. 41(4), s. 914–955. doi: 10.1075/sl.16087.nae. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This paper discusses the analysis of a particular class of morphemes in the Oceanic language Äiwoo, and argues that the difficulties in accounting for them in traditional terms such as nominalisation, compounding, relative clauses, or classifiers, is due to their status as bound lexical morphemes, also known as bound roots, an under-discussed category in linguistic literature. It proposes some parameters of variation within bound lexical morphemes as a class and shows that the Äiwoo facts can be best accounted for by reference to these parameters, both in terms of language-internal description and crosslinguistic comparability. It argues that understanding crosslinguistic morphological structure in terms of a dichotomy between “roots” and “affixes” underplays the existing variation in linguistic structure, and that a more detailed examination is necessary of forms which do not fit clearly into this dichotomy; the discussion of the Äiwoo data aims to provide a starting-point for such an examination.

• Næss, Åshild (2018). Plural-Marking Strategies in Äiwoo. Oceanic Linguistics. ISSN 0029-8115. 57(1), s. 31–62. doi: 10.1353/ol.2018.0001. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This paper describes the range of strategies found in Äiwoo (a language of the Temotu subgroup of Oceanic) to mark a noun as having plural reference. Äiwoo lacks an inflectional plural, and most of the strategies typically used in Oceanic languages to indicate plurality, such as articles, reduplication, and number distinctions in demonstratives, are not found in the language. Nevertheless, Äiwoo shows a large number of strategies for marking plurality on nouns. The paper describes these strategies and their affinities with other structural aspects of the language, such as verbal pronominal marking and bound noun roots, and argues that several of their properties appear unusual both from a comparative Oceanic and a general typological perspective. Thus, it expands our understanding of what plural marking in Oceanic languages may look like, as well as adding to the typological picture of plural marking as a linguistic category and of the grammaticalization pathways through which plural forms can arise.

• Bedford, Stuart; Blust, Robert; Burley, David; Cox, Murray; Kirch, Patrick & Matisoo-Smith, Elizabeth [Vis alle 10 forfattere av denne artikkelen] (2018). Ancient DNA and its contribution to understanding the human history of the Pacific Islands. Archaeology in Oceania. ISSN 0728-4896. 53, s. 205–219. doi: 10.1002/arco.5165. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2018). Standing up to the canoe: Competing cognitive biases in the encoding of stative spatial relations in a language with a single spatial preposition. Cognitive Linguistics. ISSN 0936-5907. 29(4), s. 807–841. doi: 10.1515/cog-2017-0096. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This paper discusses how verbal directional markers are used to encode stative spatial relations in the Oceanic language Äiwoo. It argues that the apparent reversal of directional meaning in stative expressions, where ‘up’ is used in expressions meaning ‘underneath’, ‘down’ in expressions meaning ‘above’, and ‘out’ in expressions meaning ‘inside’, can be explained by a fictive motion analysis where the figure is construed as metaphorically moving towards the ground. It moreover argues that in expressions where motion leads to a resulting spatial configuration, where ‘up’ means ‘on top of’ rather than ‘underneath’, this reading is overridden by the so-called goal bias, whereby the resultant configuration is more cognitively salient than the motion producing it. It suggests that the linguistic construal of stative spatial relations may to some extent be correlated with the formal means of expression, where marking by adpositions favours a ‘search domain’ construal whereas encoding within the verb favours a ‘fictive path’ construal. It thus provides a new angle on the linguistic encoding of spatial relations, an area which has been subject to much research within cognitive linguistics, but which so far has paid little attention to the possibility of encoding stative spatial relations within the verb.

• Næss, Åshild (2015). Voice at the crossroads: symmetrical clause alternations in Äiwoo, Reef Islands, Solomon Islands. Oceanic Linguistics. ISSN 0029-8115. 54(1), s. 270–307. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Vejdemo, Susanne; Levisen, Carsten; Scherpenberg, Cornelia van; Beck, Thórhalla Gúdmundsdóttir; Næss, Åshild & Zimmermann, Martina [Vis alle 8 forfattere av denne artikkelen] (2015). Two kinds of pink:development and difference in Germanic colour semantics. Language Sciences. ISSN 0388-0001. 49, s. 19–34. doi: 10.1016/j.langsci.2014.07.007. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Berthele, Raphael; Whelpton, Matthew; Næss, Åshild & Duijff, Pieter (2015). Static spatial descriptions in five Germanic languages. Language Sciences. ISSN 0388-0001. 49, s. 82–101. doi: 10.1016/j.langsci.2014.07.006. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2015). The Äiwoo verb phrase: syntactic ergativity without pivots. Journal of Linguistics. ISSN 0022-2267. 51(01), s. 75–106. doi: 10.1017/S0022226714000048. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2013). From Austronesian voice to Oceanic transitivity: Äiwoo as the 'missing link'. Oceanic Linguistics. ISSN 0029-8115. 52(1 ), s. 106–124. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2012). Cutting and breaking in Äiwoo: event integration and the complexity of lexical expressions. Cognitive Linguistics. ISSN 0936-5907. 23(2), s. 395–420. doi: 10.1515/cog-2012-0012. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2012). Structural parallels between Vaeakau-Taumako and the Vanuatu Outliers: Capell revisited. Oceanic Linguistics. ISSN 0029-8115. 51(2 ), s. 567–588. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Boerger, Brenda H.; Næss, Åshild; Vaa, Anders; Emerine, Rachel & Hoover, Angela (2012). Sociological factors in Reefs-Santa Cruz language vitality: a 40 year retrospective. International Journal of the Sociology of Language. ISSN 0165-2516. s. 111–152. doi: 10.1515/ijsl-2012-0023. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2011). Directional verbs in Vaeakau-Taumako. Oceanic Linguistics. ISSN 0029-8115. 50(1), s. 120–139. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2011). The grammar of eating and drinking verbs. Language and Linguistics Compass. 5/5, s. 413–423. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-818x.2011.00279.x. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild & Jenny, Mathias (2011). Who changes language? Bilingualism and structural change in Burma and the Reef Islands. Journal of Language Contact (JLC). ISSN 1877-4091. 4, s. 217–249. doi: 10.1163/187740911x589253. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild & Hovdhaugen, Even (2011). Language is power: The impact of fieldwork on community politics. I Haig, Geoffrey; Nau, Nicole; Schnell, Stefan & Wegner, Claudia (Red.), Documenting Endangered Languages - Achievements and Perspectives. De Gruyter Mouton. ISSN 9783110260021. s. 291–304. doi: 10.1515/9783110260021.291. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2011). Case on the margins: Pragmatics and argument marking in Vaeakau-Taumako and beyond. I Kittilä, Seppo; Västi, Katja & Ylikoski, Jussi (Red.), Case, animacy and semantic roles. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISSN 9789027206800. s. 305–328. doi: 10.1075/tsl.99.11nae. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2011). Reefs-Santa Cruz: reclassifying a language group. I Hoëm, Ingjerd & Solsvik, Reidar (Red.), Identity matters: Movement and place. The Kon-Tiki Museum. ISSN 9788292967034. s. 63–77. doi: 10.1515/ijsl-2012-0023. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2011). reel-refusjon, roe-rognvaffel, rumba-rumstera. I Vikør, Lars Sigurdsson; Grønvik, Oddrun & Worren, Dagfinn (Red.), Norsk Ordbok. Ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet. Band 9. Det Norske Samlaget. ISSN 9788252178586. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2011). "Natur i Norge er det litt forskjellig": Det-setninger som topikaliseringsstrategi i tekster skrevet av vietnamesiske innlærere. NOA - Norsk som andrespråk. ISSN 0801-3284. s. 5–23. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild; Berg-Olsen, Sturla; Engø, Anne Torunn; Selvik, Kari-Anne & Svardal, Terje (2011). rå-råda. I Vikør, Lars Sigurdsson; Grønvik, Oddrun & Worren, Dagfinn (Red.), Norsk Ordbok. Ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet. Band 9. Det Norske Samlaget. ISSN 9788252178586. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild & Hovdhaugen, Even (2010). Language contact in the Reef Islands: keeping one's distance at close quarters, The Gotland Papers. Selected Papers from the VII International Conference on Easter Island and the Pacific: Migration, Identity, and Cultural Heritage. Gotland University. ISSN 9789186343071. s. 455–464. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2009). How transitive are 'eat' and 'drink' verbs? I Newman, John (Red.), The Linguistics of Eating and Drinking. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISSN 9789027229984. s. 27–43. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2008). Varieties of dative. I Malchukov, Andrej & Spencer, Andrew (Red.), The Oxford Handbook of Case. Oxford University Press. ISSN 9780199206476. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild & Boerger, BH (2008). Reefs-Santa Cruz as Oceanic: Evidence from the verb complex. Oceanic Linguistics. ISSN 0029-8115. 47, s. 185–212. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2007). Defining transitivity: Markedness vs. prototypicality. I Miestamo, Matti & Wälchli, Bernhard (Red.), New Challenges in Typology: Broadening the Horizons and Redefining the Foundations. De Gruyter Mouton. ISSN 9783110195927. s. 179–198. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild & Hovdhaugen, Even (2007). The history of Polynesian settlement in the Reef and Duff Islands: the linguistic evidence. The Journal of the Polynesian Society. ISSN 0032-4000. 116. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Ross, Malcolm D & Næss, Åshild (2007). An Oceanic origin for Äiwoo, the language of the Reef Islands? Oceanic Linguistics. ISSN 0029-8115. 46, s. 456–498. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2006). Bound nominal elements in Äiwoo (Reefs): A reappraisal of the 'multiple noun class systems'. Oceanic Linguistics. ISSN 0029-8115. 45(2), s. 269–296. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2006). Past, present and future in Reefs-Santa Cruz research. I Barwick, Linda & Thieberger, Nicholas (Red.), Sustainable data from digital fieldwork. Sydney University Press. ISSN 9781920898502. s. 157–162. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2006). Case semantics and the agent-patient opposition. I Kulikov, Leonid; Malchukov, Andrej & Swart, Peter De (Red.), Case, Valency and Transitivity. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISSN 9789027230874. s. 309–327. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2004). Spatial deixis in Pileni. I Senft, Gunter (Red.), Deixis and demonstratives in Oceanic languages. Pacific Linguistics. ISSN 9780858835511. s. 81–97. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2004). Serial verbs and complex constructions in Pileni (Solomon Islands). I Bril, Isabelle & Ozanne-Rivierre, Francoise (Red.), Complex Predicates in Oceanic Languages: Studies in the Dynamics of Binding and Boundness. De Gruyter Mouton. ISSN 9783110181883. s. 225–250. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2004). What markedness marks: the markedness problem with direct objects. Lingua. ISSN 0024-3841. 114, s. 1186–1212. doi: 10.1016/j.lingua.2003.07.005. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv

Se alle arbeider i NVA

• Evans, Bethwyn; Næss, Åshild & Klok, Jozina Madolyn Vander (2024). Prominence in Austronesian. De Gruyter Mouton. ISBN 9783110735413. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild; Margetts, Anna & Treis, Yvonne (2020). Demonstratives in discourse. Language Science Press. ISBN 9783961102860. 350 s. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2019). Global grammatikk: språktypologi for språklærere, 2. utgave. Gyldendal Akademisk. ISBN 9788205522305. 272 s. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2017). A short dictionary of Äiwoo. Pacific Linguistics. ISBN 9781922185372. 203 s. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2011). Global grammatikk: Språktypologi for språklærere. Gyldendal Akademisk. ISBN 9788205401938. 274 s. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild & Hovdhaugen, Even (2011). A Grammar of Vaeakau-Taumako. De Gruyter Mouton. ISBN 9783110238266. 538 s. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2007). Prototypical Transitivity. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 9789027229847. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild & Næss, Atle Harald (2007). Et hav av språk. Gyldendal Litteratur. ISBN 9788205362741. 287 s. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv

Se alle arbeider i NVA

• Næss, Åshild & Roversi, Giovanni (2026). Body-part incorporation and the (morpho-)syntax of direct possession in Äiwoo. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Bech, Kristin & Næss, Åshild (2025). Trenger vi Khronos lister over mestpubliserende forskere? Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild & Klok, Jozina Madolyn Vander (2024). Pivot (non-)restrictions and Austronesian syntactic typology. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Evans, Bethwyn; Næss, Åshild & Klok, Jozina Madolyn Vander (2024). Prominence in Austronesian: An introduction. I Evans, Bethwyn; Næss, Åshild & Klok, Jozina Madolyn Vander (Red.), Prominence in Austronesian. De Gruyter Mouton. ISSN 9783110735413. s. 1–18. doi: 10.1515/9783110730753-001. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2024). Demonstrative forms vs. demonstrative systems: Patterns of overlap and cooccurrence in Äiwoo demonstratives. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Alfarano, Valentina & Næss, Åshild (2024). Valency morphology in Reefs-Santa Cruz: how Oceanic morphology gave rise to two kinds of 'un-Oceanic' systems. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild & Klok, Jozina Madolyn Vander (2024). Pivot (non-)restrictions and Austronesian syntactic typology. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2023). Voice choice in Äiwoo discourse. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2023). Demonstratives taking over discourse: the grammaticalisation of deictic clitics in Äiwoo. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2022). Voice and pluractionality in Äiwoo. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2022). Voice and transitivity in Äiwoo discourse. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2022). Prominence levels and the symmetrical voice-to-transitivity shift. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Sauppe, Sebastian; Isasi-Isasmendi, Arrate; Andrews, Caroline; Næss, Åshild; Flecken, Monique & Daum, Moritz [Vis alle 9 forfattere av denne artikkelen] (2022). The prominence of agents in event cognition and language processing: Reviewing the cross-linguistic evidence for a malleable preference. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2022). Hen inn i den norske ordboken? [Radio]. NRK P2. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2022). Solomon Islands pijin: yumi. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Sauppe, Sebastian; Næss, Åshild; Roversi, Giovanni; Meyer, Martin; Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, Ina & Bickel, Balthasar (2022). The agent bias in comprehension is robust in an OVS language, at least for human referents: Evidence from Äiwoo (Solomon Islands). Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2022). Reversing grammatical relations: lessons from Reefs-Santa Cruz. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Korne, Haley De & Næss, Åshild (2022). Linguistic Diversity in Norway and Beyond. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2021). Språktypologi og språkundervisning: hva Stillehavet har lært meg om norsk grammatikk. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2021). Universitetsplassen: Hvor kommer grammatikken fra? [Internet]. Universitetsplassen (podkast) . Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2021). Deictics, syntax and information structure in Äiwoo. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2021). Äiwoo: momalâ. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2021). Two comitative constructions in Äiwoo. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild & Sauppe, Sebastian (2020). Bringing psycholinguistics to the field: experiences from the Solomon Islands. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild; Margetts, Anna & Treis, Yvonne (2020). Introduction: Demonstratives in discourse. I Næss, Åshild; Margetts, Anna & Treis, Yvonne (Red.), Demonstratives in discourse. Language Science Press. ISSN 9783961102860. s. 1–20. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2019). Evig eies kun det uavhendelige (eller: eier du egentlig foten din?). Språkprat. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2019). (Im)perfectivity and phasal aspect in Äiwoo. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2019). Nouns and verbs yet again: new questions in an old debate. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Nouns and verbs yet again: new questions in an old debate Much ink has been spilt over the question of whether there are languages which do not distinguish a lexical class of nouns from one of verbs, and what sort of evidence would be required to confidently establish such a situation (e.g. Evans and Osada 2005 and commentaries on this paper in Linguistic Typology 9:3). Austronesian languages have figured heavily in this debate (e.g. Himmelmann 1991, 2004, Gil 1994, 1995, 2001, Mosel and Hovdhaugen 1992, Broschart 1997, and a recent (2017) special issue of Studies in Language on ‘Lexical flexibility in Oceanic languages’, among others). Part of the issue is that «most theories about word classes take for granted a one-to-one correlation between lexical categories and syntactic categories» (Bisang 2011: 293). Himmelmann (2008) notes that the terms ‘noun’ and ‘verb’ can be applied to different levels of analysis: the ontological (e.g. roots referring to objects vs roots referring to actions), the morpho-lexical (classes of words defined by their morphological potential), and the syntactic (the function of an item in syntax as e.g. the head of an argument phrase, a predicate phrase, or a modifier). Because these levels tend to align in European languages, such alignment has been taken as the default for word classes in general. However, as Bisang (2011) and others have pointed out, this is not a necessary situation; for example, Himmelmann (2008: 249) notes that the three levels «are not at all commensurate in a language like Tagalog». Recognising this allows us to take the discussion beyond the question of which criteria can or should be used to distinguish nouns from verbs, and into an area of more general interest both for the understanding of the grammar of individual languages and for linguistic typology and theory: How do these levels of classification interact in the grammar of a language where they do not overlap? For example, how does morphology - inflectional and derivational - relate to lexical classes on the one hand and syntactic categories on the other, when the latter two are not commensurate? And what grammatical means do languages use to identify basic syntactic functions such as predicate and argument when they lack a direct correspondence between such functions and lexical classes? In this talk, I will compare two Austronesian languages - Tagalog, as described in Himmelmann (2008), and the Oceanic language Äiwoo, based on my own descriptive work - and show that these questions have very different answers for the two languages. This illustrates the potential for typological variation in this domain, and points to an area where the study of Austronesian languages can contribute to new insights into the organisation of grammatical structure in the world’s languages.

• Næss, Åshild (2019). How to grow grammatical relations: modelling the transition from symmetrical voice to subject/object structure in Austronesian. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2019). Chasing the clause: the challenges of describing person indexing in Äiwoo. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2019). Språkmangfaldet i Stillehavsregionen. Mål og makt. ISSN 0332-7744. 49(3), s. 33–37. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild; Klok, Jozina Madolyn Vander & Evans, Bethwyn (2019). Prominence in Austronesian: introduction. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2019). How to grow grammatical relations: modelling the transition from symmetrical voice to subject-object structure in Austronesian. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild; Evans, Bethwyn & Klok, Jozina Madolyn Vander (2018). The rise of grammatical relations in Austronesian. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2018). Aspect, evidentiality and mirativity in Äiwoo. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2018). Fra Stillehavet til norske klasserom: Hva stillehavsforskning har lært meg om norsk grammatikk. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2017). Standing up to the canoe: directionals and stative spatial relations in Äiwoo. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild & Evans, Bethwyn (2017). Prominence and the typology of grammatical relations. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2016). Deverbal nouns in Äiwoo: derivations, compounds or phrases? Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2016). Looking for words in the Reef Islands: bound roots in Äiwoo and their descriptive and documentary challenges. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild (2016). Å se verden med nye verbformer: kategorier i grammatikken og i virkeligheten. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Næss, Åshild & Toft, Ellen Hellebostad (2009). Om normering og følgjer av denne: støtte vs stytte i Norsk Ordbok 2014. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Toft, Ellen Hellebostad & Næss, Åshild (2009). Stytte og støtte: Mellom semantisk teori og leksikografisk praksis. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Lane, Pia Marit Johanne & Næss, Åshild (2008). De snusfornuftige, kjedelige lingvistene. Aftenposten (morgenutg. : trykt utg.). ISSN 0804-3116. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Lane, Pia Marit Johanne & Næss, Åshild (2008). Dommedagsprofeter. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Rødvand, Linn Iren Sjånes; Næss, Åshild & Evans, Bethwyn (2024). Patani: Description of a South Halmahera–West New Guinea language. Universitetet i Oslo. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Patani: Beskrivelse av et South Halmahera-West New Guinea-språk

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