In many languages, antipassive morphology is comprised of aspectual morphology (Polinsky 2008). This thesis presents an analysis of the syntax and semantics of antipassives in Inuktitut by exploring the link between aspectual morphology and antipassive morphology. It resolves the longstanding question as to the factors governing the distribution of the antipassive morpheme, showing that the presence of the antipassive morpheme is determined by the meaning of the construction, i.e. it does not merely change the grammatical function. It is proposed that the antipassive construction has imperfective viewpoint in contrast to the ergative construction. Antipassive morphology is obligatory with punctual telic verbs, i.e. achievements, which are verbs that have perfective viewpoint by default. Antipassive morphology is thus necessary to convey imperfective viewpoint for verbs that are by default perfective. Using a modified Reichenbachian (Reichenbach 1947) framework, it is shown that imperfective viewpoint does not allow for telic interpretations. Instead, punctuality determines the types of viewpoint, which coincide with the aspectual meaning of the antipassive marker. Viewpoint contrasts in Inuktitut are encoded not only in morphology but in changes of case and agreement configurations. They are derived using a version of the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 2008). Imperfective viewpoint can either be default, in which case there is inherent case on the internal argument, or derived through the addition of antipassive morphology, in which case the construction closely parallels a nominative-accusative structure. Perfective viewpoint is encoded through absolutive case on the internal argument, either in an ergative construction or in a canonical intransitive construction with unaccusative verbs. The thesis provides insight into the relation between case-agreement configurations and aspectual contrasts in language and the nature of those aspectual contrasts. It also provides a new approach to the relation between lexical aspect and viewpoint by considering the role of punctuality.

In many languages, antipassive morphology is comprised of aspectual morphology (Polinsky 2008). This thesis presents an analysis of the syntax and semantics of antipassives in Inuktitut by exploring the link between aspectual morphology and antipassive morphology. It resolves the longstanding question as to the factors governing the distribution of the antipassive morpheme, showing that the presence of the antipassive morpheme is determined by the meaning of the construction, i.e. it does not merely change the grammatical function. It is proposed that the antipassive construction has imperfective viewpoint in contrast to the ergative construction. Antipassive morphology is obligatory with punctual telic verbs, i.e. achievements, which are verbs that have perfective viewpoint by default. Antipassive morphology is thus necessary to convey imperfective viewpoint for verbs that are by default perfective. Using a modified Reichenbachian (Reichenbach 1947) framework, it is shown that imperfective viewpoint does not allow for telic interpretations. Instead, punctuality determines the types of viewpoint, which coincide with the aspectual meaning of the antipassive marker. Viewpoint contrasts in Inuktitut are encoded not only in morphology but in changes of case and agreement configurations. They are derived using a version of the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 2008). Imperfective viewpoint can either be default, in which case there is inherent case on the internal argument, or derived through the addition of antipassive morphology, in which case the construction closely parallels a nominative-accusative structure. Perfective viewpoint is encoded through absolutive case on the internal argument, either in an ergative construction or in a canonical intransitive construction with unaccusative verbs. The thesis provides insight into the relation between case-agreement configurations and aspectual contrasts in language and the nature of those aspectual contrasts. It also provides a new approach to the relation between lexical aspect and viewpoint by considering the role of punctuality.

Le terme d’antipassif, qui s’inscrit depuis quarante ans dans le système des langues ergatives, désigne une construction intransitive ayant pour caractéristique générale la destitution du patient. Cette thèse remet en question l’opinion traditionnelle selon laquelle les constructions antipassives sont identifiées exclusivement dans les langues à alignement ergatif, et non dans les langues à alignement accusatif. Étant donné qu’une certaine proportion de langues ergatives utilise pour dériver l’antipassif le morphème polysémique réfléchie et/ou réciproque, dans cette étude nous nous sommes intéressée aux langues accusatives dont la marque antipassive présente la même caractéristique, d’où l’intérêt porté aux langues austronésiennes, Niger-Congo et Nilo-sahariennes, turciques, slaves et romanes. Dans la mesure où nous avons décidé de travailler sur les constructions antipassives dérivées par une marque étant à l’origine polysémique, l’impact sémantique de cette dernière sur l’ensemble de la construction apparaît comme non négligeable. Cette étude présente ainsi le double intérêt de s’appuyer sur une approche translinguistique, impliquant différentes familles de langues, et sur une vision bipolaire relative aux domaines de la syntaxe et de la sémantique. / The antipassive term, associated with ergative system since forty years, denotes an intransitive construction in which the patient argument is syntactically demoted. This study calls into question a traditional opinion according to which the antipassive phenomenon is encountered in ergative languages but not in those of accusative alignment. Since in some ergative languages the antipassive construction is triggered by a polysemous reflexive and/or reciprocal morpheme, this study deals exclusively with those accusative languages in which the antipassive marker presents the same characteristics (cf. Austronesian, Niger–Congo, Nilo-Saharan, Turkic, Slavonic, Romance languages). Building on the polysemous nature of such marker, its possible semantic impact on the whole derivation should also be taken into consideration. The aim of this study is to analyse the antipassive construction both from semantic and syntactic point of view in a crosslinguistic perspective.

Swedish has the absolute reflexive construction, where a reflexive marker appears to be usedas an antipassive marker. Similar constructions, with omitted objects and reflexive marking on the verb, are found in Slavic and Baltic languages and is only possible with a small set of verbs.This study examines this group of verbs in Swedish and a sample of European languages andfinds that the verbs express unwanted action on an animate patient. They also share features of non-resultativity, potential reciprocality and atelicity. A set of core meanings, including ‘hit’,‘push’ and ‘bite’ are the most frequently occurring in absolute reflexives also in Slavic and Baltic languages. Lexical semantics hence play an important role in the extension of functions of reflexive markers in these languages. There is a functional overlap of reciprocal and absolute reflexive function in all of the languages, resulting in clauses with ambiguous reading between reciprocal and antipassive. It is suggested that the antipassive function of reflexive markers has grammaticalized from the reciprocal function of this marker. / I svenska finns en absolut reflexiv konstruktion, där en reflexivmarkör verkar fungera som en antipassivmarkör. Liknande konstruktioner, med utelämnat objekt och reflexiv markering på predikatet, finns även i slaviska och baltiska språk och är bara möjliga med en liten grupp verb. Den här studien undersöker denna grupp av verb i svenska och i ett urval av europeiska språk och visar att verben uttrycker oönskad handling på en animat patient. Verben är också icke-resultativa, potentiellt reciproka och ateliska. En grupp av kärnbetydelser som ’slå’, ’knuffa’och ’sparka’ är de vanligast förekommande i absolut reflexiva konstruktioner även i slaviska och baltiska språk. Lexikal semantik spelar följaktligen en viktig roll i utvidgningen av funktioner av reflexivmarkörer i dessa språk. Det finns en funktionell överlappning mellan reciproka verb och absolut reflexiv i alla språken i undersökningen, vilket resulterar i satser med två möjliga tolkningar: reciprok och antipassiv. En grammatikalisering av reflexivmarkörer från reciprok funktion till antipassiv funktion föreslås